


Chronicles of the Heiress (Book I)

by Peaches_and_Lilies



Series: Chronicles of the Heiress [1]
Category: WWE, World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: Monday Night Raw - Freeform, Original Character-centric, chosen family, coming of age of sorts, smackdown, when you love what you write you come up with randomness like this
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-30
Updated: 2020-09-18
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:07:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 22,965
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24996601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Peaches_and_Lilies/pseuds/Peaches_and_Lilies
Summary: It's been four years since she last stepped foot in the WWE, but now she was back for a whole new adventure. But coming back meant finally learning and taking her place in the family business, reconnecting with old friends, making new friends, dealing with backstage drama, causing a whole hell of a lot of trouble, and confronting what she ran away from all those years ago. 2013-15.
Relationships: AJ Lee/CM Punk, Drew McIntyre/OFC, Drew McIntyre/Original Female Character(s), original female character/cm punk friendship, original female character/seth rollins friendship, past original female character/drew mcintyre
Series: Chronicles of the Heiress [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1809532
Kudos: 3





	1. Out of the Frying Pan

Illinois, 2013; WWE Payback

This was it. Tonight, was the night. Absolutely no going back. I stared up at the looming figure of the Allstate Arena, my heart pounding so hard against my ribcage I was surprised the sound hadn't leaked out into the car.

" _I can't do this."_ I thought to myself as the car was parked near the talent and staff entrance. _"Oh my god I can't do this."_

As the panic threatened to overcome me, my hands twitched and reached for the door handle. " _I can still make a run for it."_ But as I made contact, the locks clicked in place making it impossible for escape.

"Don't even think about."

I turned in the passenger's seat, eyes wide and quivering my lips as I looked at the driver, my brother-in-heart, "Phil."

"Don't you 'Phil' me Toni." Phil, or better known as CM Punk, told me sternly. "And put that expression away right now. You got me here with that look, so you're going to see all of this through till the end."

I slumped in defeat, gathering my phone and my bag as Phil finally unlocked the door, pulling up the hood of his jacket before making his way out of the car. Grumbling, I followed behind him as slowly as possible, slamming the passenger side door behind me.

"Hey!" Phil, who was grabbing his own bags from the back seat, whirled around to face me. "Not the car!"

I stuck my tongue out at him, stomping past him and into the staff entrance, flashing my ID and pass at the guard as I went. As soon as I got past security guard, I paused and took a deep breath. Because _this was it._

4 years. 4 years since I last stepped foot in any vicinity that involved a live event or taping of WWE. Don't get me wrong, I loved this business and company to pieces. I grew up around everyone here, I was groomed to take a place in this company, this industry was ingrained in my DNA especially considering who my family was.

But the events of 2009 and the circumstances (albeit not all bad) I found myself in were a catalyst for my self-imposed ban on being directly involved with anything and most anyone from the WWE roster, bar my family and a few select people.

Phil Brooks was one of those select few.

"Well buttercup, how does it feel to be back?" I heard Phil ask as he came up beside me, slinging an arm around my shoulder to urge me to walk forward to him.

"Well we haven't seen anyone yet so I'm reserving judgement." I told him bemusedly, getting a nonsensical hum in return. "Are you gonna escort me all the way to my old man?"

I tilted my head back, catching the scrunch of distaste on Phil's face causing me to automatically respond with a whack to his chest. "Stop that."

"What?" He huffed, tugging at my ear in retaliation. "Look, we have an arrangement when it comes to you but that doesn't mean I have to like the guy entirely okay? I can be civil when he's around but if he's not, well it's a free country Tones."

I could only shake my head at his answer, letting it go because in all honesty he was right. There were many issues between him and my family that would never fully be resolved and I had learned to accept that. And both sides respected the fact that in that matter I was an outlier, I was not someone to be pulled in to what was their business and their problems. It was a hard thing to do, especially knowing how adamantly prideful both sides could be— but so far, my stance on neutrality was holding up.

I resolved to just push away the topic from my brain, it was not something I ever liked stressing over. Besides, tonight was going to be stressful enough as it is.

We managed to pass by catering, and I was almost ready to face what I had left behind years prior, only to see that it was empty of anyone who was not part of the catering staff. I turned to Phil, who looked a bit confused as well.

He stopped one of the runners, asking where everyone was at the moment.

"Oh, they're all in front at the ring." The female runner answered, and I could just feel the dread start to pool in my gut. "Mr. McMahon and Mr. Levesque called for an all roster meeting a few minutes ago."

"Son of a bitch." I muttered, causing the runner to shoot me a look, giving me a quick up and down assessment. Of course, she wouldn't know who I was, and she was probably wondering why the hell I was with Phil in the first place.

Phil removed his arm from around me and instead caught my hand in his, giving it a reassuring squeeze. "Thanks, that's all we needed to know. Do you mind putting our bags in my locker room? Assuming I have one on my own?"

"Yes, of course Mr. Punk." The runner accepted mine and Phil's bag. "It's good to have you back sir. Good luck against Mr. Jericho tonight."

Phil smirked patting the girl's shoulder, and I was so sure she would melt right there and then. Fangirls, I snorted out loud, turning my head away when she shot me another look and I got another hand squeeze in warning.

"You should be nicer to the runners buttercup." Phil said, dragging me forward with him as we headed to the ring area. "They're the eyes and ears of this place. Primary source of backstage gossip you know."

"I _was_ nice." I protested, walking faster so I was beside him instead of being dragged from behind. "It's just funny to see your fangirls go all goo-goo eyed over you."

"Yeah well let's not tell April about that encounter, shall we?"

I could only grin up at him, before turning back to look at the path we were taking towards the gorilla. The dread I had momentarily pushed aside earlier, was back and growing more than ever. My palms were sweaty and I knew Phil felt it, because he glanced back at me occasionally. I'm so glad he wasn't one of the verbal comforting types because I wouldn't actually know what to say at the moment.

Getting to the gorilla, all eyes turned to us when we entered, which really didn't help my panic ease.

"You're late."

Phil walked forward with a small smile, hugging the voice's owner briefly. I watched; hands laced in front of me as Paul Heyman returned the embrace. "I'm not late Paul, I show up exactly when I'm needed."

"And you were needed half an hour ago." Heyman chided good-naturedly, before turning to face me. "But look who you've brought! Little Antonia it's been too long!"

I pushed back my automatic response to my full first name (which was a grimace), and moved forward to shake Heyman's offered hand. "It's nice to see you again Mr. Heyman."

"Now I would believe that if you didn't look like you're about to pass out." He guffawed, causing me to give a small weak smile in return. "So, will you be traveling with the roster longer this time?"

"I actu—"

"I'm sorry to cut this short Paul," Phil piped in, causing me to jump slightly. "But I have to return this pain-in-the-ass to her uncle before I get hounded for keeping her to myself."

"Excuse me?" I scoffed, walking towards where he was near the curtain. "I am the light of your life! You're the pain in the ass in this friendship Brooks. Know your role!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Phil snorted, putting a hand on my lower back and pushing me forward through the curtains that led to the stage. "Let's just go buttercup, your uncle's waiting."

With a shaky breath, I nodded and let him lead me out of the gorilla and onto the stage.

The arena before the show was a sight to behold. The seats were empty, everything was clean and polished, and seeing the ring in the center of it all was really just something. But at the moment, the ring was occupied and the area surrounding it was filled with people from the roster.

"So tonight, let's make sure that we're all as safe as we can be in this ring." I heard my uncle's voice echo towards where Phil and I were at the top of the stage. "We don't want any more people on the injured list. No more unnecessary recklessness."

"No more recklessness?" Phil spoke loudly. "Well this show sounds like it's gonna be boring as hell."

Every head swerved around and all eyes looked up at the stage to where we were and in that moment, I had never hated my heart chosen brother more. I turned away from the eyes of the roster, instead abandoning my panic for bewilderment and a glare which I planted on Phil firmly.

"About time you got here." I heard Vince gruff out. "You missed the meeting."

"Yeah, well _someone_ decided to deliberately not set up her alarm so I had to break into her apartment to get her ass out of bed." Phil grumbled, grabbing a hold of my arm gently but marched me down towards the ring. The superstars and divas by the ramp parted, creating space for us to pass through. I did my best not to look at anyone, I didn't want to recognize faces just yet. "Blame her not me."

"Yeah, she's a handful." My uncle chuckled. "Still, I'm glad you guys made it."

"Well as per agreement I have delivered your precious cargo." Phil said, pushing me towards the ring and further into the spotlight. "She's all yours Hunter. Good riddance and good luck."

"Don't be frickin' rude." I muttered, punching his arm and getting a pinch to my side in return. "You're a jerk."

"That's common knowledge buttercup." He teased, shoving me closer to the steel steps. "Now go be someone else's problem."

With one last glare at Phil, I walked up the steps and made my way into the ring through the second rope. Immediately, I was snatched up into a bear hug by my uncle.

"You planned this." I muttered, returning the embrace just as tightly. I kept my eyes down, because I could feel dozens of eyes on us still. "You sneaky sneaky man."

"Into the fire kid." Uncle Paul chuckled, pressing a quick kiss to my temple. "It's good to see you Toni."

"I FaceTime you and Aunt Steph almost every day man."

"You know that's not what I mean." He huffed, setting me back down on my feet.

I pulled back with a grin only to get swept up in another tight bear hug.

"Welcome back to WWE duckling!" Vince laughed, swinging me around off my feet which cause a couple of the superstars to laugh.

"Uncle Vince!" I couldn't help but giggle, tapping his back lightly. "I tap!"

He set me down with a chuckle, ruffling the top of my head and probably turning it into a bird's nest as he's been prone to do since I first knew him.

"So if some of you don't already know," I turned back to watch Uncle Paul as he addressed the roster and the staff. "This is my niece, Antonia—"

"Toni." I cut in, sliding closer to him and nudging his side. "Please call me Toni."

"Yeah, Toni." My uncle nodded before shrugging. "Or just call her Hela, that's her ring name—"

"Wait she's a Diva?" I heard one of the newer divas who was standing behind the Bella twins blurt out, the one with the fake red hair. Ella or something.

"No, she's not." Vince answered, throwing a stern look towards Ella-something who shrunk under his gaze. "She will not be wrestling."

"She could." Phil piped in from where he was standing near the apron. "Hell if she wanted to and if Hunter could make her she would."

"But I won't." I replied sternly, glaring at him which caused him to back up with a smirk. "I'm strictly here to help around with the backstage goings. I am _not_ wrestling." This time I turned my glare to my uncle who looked like he was about to say something but backed down when he saw my look. I looked at Ella-something to address her exclamation. "I'm not a Diva. Hela Helmsley is just an on-screen name I was given a few years back for story line purposes."

"Well that's enough introductions for now." Vince spoke, cutting off anymore questions anyone had. "You can ask questions and catch up more later since she'll be on the road with you guys for a while. Everyone get ready we have 6 hours before the show! Let's get moving!"

That effectively dismissed everyone. I watched as they all made their way up the ramp or through the sides to get to where they needed to go. I saw Phil wave at me with his phone in hand, telling me to text him to find him. I waved him off with a smile and watched as he ran towards the side of a certain petite diva. One of the few people in the roster I actually kept in touch with, April. But that was mostly because I had known her long before she even came to the main roster, when she was still in FCW.

There were so many new faces, but also a lot of familiar faces. One in particular, looked back at the ring and stared me down.

I froze as I locked eyes with him. A hundred memories steamrolled through my mind and a dozen emotions rushed at me with reckless abandon.

There was a reason I delayed stepping foot into the WWE again, until now. There was a push that happened to help me make up my mind to leave early. There was a boy— a man.

Drew Galloway.

I watched as he nodded at me slightly, his mouth pulled up in a soft smile, one I most definitely did not return. He sent me one last look before heading backstage with the other superstars.

He wanted to talk. But I most certainly don't want to. Not any time soon. Just not yet.

Not after everything.


	2. All Around Me Are Familiar Faces

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading my story. Please Enjoy!

Allstate Arena, Backstage; Payback 2013

After a nearly four-hour meeting with Vince, Uncle Paul, and some of the board members (including Aunt Steph) over speaker phone, we had finally managed to hash out what I would be doing while I was traveling with the company. Being related with the big man (albeit through marriage) had its perks, and I admit I am not above nepotism if it meant I had a chance to be employed as soon as possible. But of course, that meant I had to work doubly as hard; because don't get the wrong idea about me, I wasn't in this for the family perks, I really did want to work hard and help improve the work setting as much as possible.

So, for the time being a position was granted to me.

You are now looking at WWE's new Interim Junior Internal Talent Relations Manager.

Basically, I was partly in charge of the personal wellness and happiness of the current superstars and divas in the roster. I answer directly only to Mark Carrano, Uncle Paul, or on occasion Aunt Steph and Uncle Vince while on the road.

I was supposed to be the go-to for complaints, help resolve any backstage drama, and coordinate with the higher ups since they didn't have the time to deal with all of that themselves. In addition, I was in charge of how each superstar conducted themselves among each other and making sure it didn't affect talent performance, talent well-being, and company image. In short, I was the road mom.

For a twenty-three-year-old fresh out of college that was no pressure. No pressure at all. Insert horrific and hysterical laugh crying here.

I walked out of Vince's temporary office with all those in my head, wandering backstage on auto-pilot as I tried to re-arrange my thoughts and ideas.

Most of the roster was twice and thrice my age. They would think I was a joke! I know I wouldn't be automatically respected because of my name, I expected that and was willing to work harder than anyone to gain respect and recognition. But how was I supposed to do this job? How am I supposed to prove to the board and my family that I could do this job? Why the hell did I suggest doing this in the first place?

"Buttercup!"

I was snapped out of my thoughts and immediately my eyes found Phil's green ones. His brows were furrowed in concern, and it wasn't just his that was. It was that also of the woman who sat beside him at their table.

Somehow my feet had led me to catering and now found myself face to face with a few old faces and new. I wavered, offering a shaky and nervous smile to everyone who was there before I made a beeline to the table where Phil was sat at. Thankfully there weren't a lot of them there.

"Hey." I greeted softly as I came to stand beside him and touched his shoulder. He reached for my hand and tugged me down to sit beside him but I shook my head, preferring to stand for the time being. My mind was still in a scramble and I kept zoning out of real time and retreating into my head.

"How was the meeting?" I looked at my heart-brother, blinking up at him absently. "Did something go wrong?"

"No," I murmured, shaking my head and looking down at the table top. "No everything's fine. I'm just thinking."

"Hm." He hummed nonsensically.

Phil knew how I was when I had something serious to think about. He let me zone out most of the time but maybe not tonight. "Well you can think later because someone really wants to greet you properly right now."

I nodded, blinking a few times to focus my mind on the present, leaving thoughts of work to the side for later pondering. I looked up at everyone sitting around the table and gave them a smile.

"Hi." I stated simply. Phil facepalmed and shook his head at my awkwardness. "What?" I muttered, embarrassed because I really did not know how to proceed from there.

Thankfully someone else decided to take the lead for me.

"Geek baby!"

Suddenly I found myself being squeezed by a 5"2 brunette geek goddess of a WWE Diva. I couldn't hold down the laugh that bubbled out of me when I realized she had attached herself to me, legs around my waist and all. "April." I said warmly, hugging her back just as tightly. "So, is it safe to assume you missed me?"

"Are you kidding me?" April spluttered as she pulled her head back to look at me. "Of course, I missed you! I threatened Phil with castration if he failed to bring you around tonight!"

"I can vouch for that." Phil piped in, wincing at the thought and I had to smirk when I saw the men who were sat at the table squirm in their seats. "For a midget, she can be violent."

"Hush you." April scolded before jumping down from me but hugged me again. "I'm so glad you're finally here! We're gonna have so much fun on the road together!"

"For sure." I nodded back excitedly. "I also hear congratulations are in order Ms. Future Diva's Champ! I'm so happy for you! You deserve it!"

"Thank you! I'm so excited but also so nervous." She gushed to me. "I've been working really hard for this you know? And Celeste and I really want to make this a match to remember."

"Speaking of Celeste." I swiveled my head around, looking for my favorite two-toned Diva. "Where is she?"

"She had to go to make-up." A familiar voice piped in, I whirled around and grinned before finding myself in another hug.

"Trinity! It's so nice to see you again!"

"It's good to see you too girly. It's been what? 4 years since I last saw you? And that was still when we were in FCW." Trinity (or Naomi as most fans knew her as), scanned me top to bottom. "Damn girl you grew up on us!"

I felt myself blush, tucking my hair back behind my ear as I nodded. "Like you said, it's been four years."

"Well girl, those four years have been kind to you." She said teasingly, tugging at the chest part of my blouse. "Especially since you didn't have these twins back then."

Before I could say anything else, a voice loudly boomed from the doorway. "Where is she?! Where is my Little H?!"

"Oh my god." I muttered, burying my face in my hands when I saw every head swivel to look at me. "Oh my god he is still so embarrassing."

"Little H?" Trinity giggled, jumping away when I attempted to pinch her. "I'll see you later Tones, I gotta go find Ariane." She said, patting my shoulder before walking away and leaving me to my fate.

"Come out and greet your favorite road Uncle, Little H!" Chris Jericho stood in the doorway of the catering area in his ring tights and a Fozzy shirt, hands on his hips as if imitating a stern school matron. "Don't make me cause a scene out here!"

"Holy shit, why are you so embarrassing?" I hissed, stomping my way over to him. I could feel my face heat up when I heard the chuckles and giggles trailing me. "You're even more embarrassing than Uncle Paul!"

"Language young lady!" Chris gasped, placing a hand on his chest. "Since when did you start cursing? What has that straight edged tattooed punk been teaching you all these years?!"

"Excuse me?!" I heard Phil splutter. "Are you calling me a bad influence?!"

"If the shoe fits then yeah Punk!" I sighed and let Chris lead me back to the table, seating me beside Phil and then sitting on my other side. "You've practically been her guardian for 4 years so I'm blaming you for her atrocious language. She never used to curse back then. This is clearly your fault!"

"That's fucking ridiculous!" Phil protested, looking truly offended even though I knew he and Chris really were just playing around. "I'm not a bad fucking influence! This is all on her!"

"And my point is proven!" Chris pointed at him, looking as smug as one could. "Bad influence!"

"I'll show you bad influence Bon Jovi!" Phil reaching across me to try and get at Chris, which ended up in a hand smacking fight just in front of my face.

That's when I decided to intervene, if only to save myself from further embarrassment and having my face being hit on accident. "Okay boys, no roughhousing. Save all the ass-kicking for later in the ring."

Phil backed down, huffing as he tugged my seat closer to him. "I'm the best influence."

"Of course." I nodded absently, sharing a look with April who was sat on his other side. "You're the best."

"I mean I watched out for you even while I was on the road!" He continued to rant, much to everyone's amusement. "I never let you go to a party if it meant you were gonna get _too_ hammered!"

"You never did." I agreed, my lips twitching in hilarity. I glanced at Chris who sat back, smiling in amusement at the turn of events and looking proud of himself for what he started. I nudged him under the table, silently asking him not to egg Phil further on.

"I even made sure you stayed away from playboys!" Phil exclaimed, looking down at me as if asking for my confirmation. "Why do you think you're still a virgin up to this day?"

"But Toni isn't a—" April cut herself off as I sent her a wide-eyed look. "I-I mean uh—"

Phil's look turned into a glare and Chris's amused smile turned into a frown as they both rounded on me. "Toni."

"Well would you look at the time!" I fake-laughed, standing up quickly and heading to April's side. "April has to get her make-up done so I think I should go accompany her!"

"But I already have my—Ouch!" April rubbed her arm which I had pinched before her eyes enlarged in understanding when I sent her a warning look. "R-right! My make-up isn't done! And I need Toni with me so we're going!"

Without another word, she took my hand and we fled out of catering but not before hearing Phil's last exclamation of "You are in big trouble when I find you later Antonia! We are not done here!"

That made us take off faster, not wanting to risk the wrath of one CM Punk.

"That was close." April sighed, gulping in breaths when we finally stopped running. "Too close."

"No thanks to you." I laughed, wiping at the slight sheen that had formed on my brow. "But what do we do now?"

April shrugged, tugging at my hand as she led me down the corridor. "Well I do need to see Sandra about my shirt. And you need one too! Gotta show your support for your favorite Diva after all."

"I didn't know they still made shirts for the Bellas." I fibbed, earning a glare from the soon to be Diva's Champion. "I'm kidding!"

"Just for that I'm telling Phil all about how you lost your V-card." She dropped my hand, stomping away with a pout.

"Wait no! April I was kidding!" I gasped, running after her. "Please don't tell Phil, he'll kill me!"

* * *

Hours later, I found myself sat alone in one of the monitor areas set up backstage and watching the kick-off show. April had gone to look for Celeste to run through the match one more time and I had managed to avoid Phil and Chris because I was really not in the mood to be interrogated on my v-card status.

I really wasn't paying attention to the show itself as my mind had drifted back to my earlier train of thought. Although now I had a semi-outline of a plan going on in my head, I still needed to figure out how to make that semi-outline a solid one. I needed to create something that I could present to Uncle Paul and Carrano so that they could approve of any and all actions I would take in the future.

I sighed to myself, looking down at my tablet and the bullet points of ideas I had and a bunch of notes I had collected over the past weeks that I still needed to connect, sort through, and somehow make function effectively and turn into a proper proposal to the higher ups. Coming back was going to be a pain in the ass but I was willing to put in the effort and hard work if it meant establishing a better work environment for the superstars and divas. I thought back to Phil and our conversations and knew I _needed_ to make this work. I _have_ to make it work.

Unfortunately, tonight would not be the night to make it all work and connect because I always seem to get interrupted just when I start zoning out.

"Hey there kid." I looked up, focusing on a semi-familiar face. "I bet you don't remember me."

"No, I do." I smiled at him, switching the screen off my tablet off for the time being. "It's good to see you again Mox, or should I call you Ambrose now?"

"Potato, tomato. Whichever works for you kid." Ambrose shrugged, giving me one of his famous dimpled smirks. I noticed he was finally in gear and quickly ran the match card through my head. His match would be the third of the night, after the Diva's title match. "So how does it feel being back here?"

"It's only been a day and the night hasn't ended yet. I'm reserving judgement until tomorrow after RAW so ask me that question again then." I replied, rearranging my legs so I had one crossed over the other. "I know it's a bit late to ask but how does it feel being up on the main roster?"

"It's work." He shrugged again. "I mean it's great finally being up here and all. I have a title and everything but yeah. It's work."

"Any problems with the older superstars?" I asked, figuring I could get some insight on the current state of the roster with newer blood. "I know how some of the veterans can get with the rookies."

"Is this an interrogation?" He chuckled, moving so he straddled his seat and was now fully facing me. "Why did they say something about me and my boys? Am I in trouble for something?"

Before I could negate his assumptions, two more people joined us.

"Who's in trouble?" I looked up, catching sight of the other members of The Shield entering the monitor area. It was the man with the two-tone hair that had spoken up, another semi-familiar face. "What did you do this time Jon?"

"Why do you automatically assume I did something?" Ambrose glared at his stable mate.

"Cause it's you."

"Fuck you Lopez." He retorted, earning a laugh from the younger man who sat himself beside Ambrose, only to find himself in a headlock by the Cincinnati native.

"He's not bothering you, is he?" I looked up and smiled at the more familiar face of Roman Reigns, or Joe as he preferred to be called personally. "Tell me if he bothers you baby girl and I'll spear him for you."

"Hey Joe." I greeted, giving the older man a side hug when he sat beside me. "How are you?"

"I'm good Toni. You?" He wrapped an arm around me and squeezed back, minding his strength. "I haven't seen you since you last visited FCW in 2011. Before—"

"Before it was NXT yeah." I nodded. "I was just really busy with classes you know? I took two degrees at the same time so college kind of consumed my life. But I'm really happy to finally see you up here in the main roster. And tag team champs too!"

"That's me too!" This time my attention lasered on to the last Shield member who had finally been freed by Ambrose. He offered me his hand and I took it, shaking it gently. "Hi, I don't know if you remember me, I'm—"

"Seth Rollins." I said, giving him a small smile. "I remember you a bit. Your real name's Colby, right?"

"Yeah! Woah you remember that?" He looked a bit astonished at that fact and I don't blame him. He and I hadn't really talked much back then, only a few casual greetings in passing. He probably thought I was a snob like some of the other wrestlers back there did.

"I have good memory." I giggled when I realized we had yet to let go of and were still shaking each other's hand. "Colby, do you have any plans of letting go any time soon?"

His brow furrowed before he looked down at our hands and realized just what exactly I meant. "Ah!" He dropped my hand, using his to rub the back of his neck sheepishly. "Aha, sorry about that."

"Smooth." Ambrose snorted, earning a glare from Colby. "So kid, you're travelling with the roster. Who're you carpooling with?"

"Well I'm meant to ride with Phil on his bus, I think April will ride with us, maybe even Big E sometimes, and Kofi too whenever he comes back." I said, watching as they nodded at me. I had met Ettore (Big E) earlier when I was with April and Kofi was out with an injury, he would be back in a couple of weeks. "But I might do shifts and carpool with other people from time to time."

"Well we don't have a bus sweetheart but you definitely have to ride with us some time soon." Colby said, shifting so he too was straddling the steel chair he sat on. "If only to save you from the nightmare that is PunkLee."

"Um, what?" I looked at him, confused cause I had no idea what he was talking about.

Joe shook his head, chuckling as he explained to me. "We rode with them once on Punk's bus. They go at it like rabbits."

"More like a couple of mating cats." Ambrose exclaimed, much to my horror. "Really loud mating cats."

"Oh god I don't need to know that!" I spluttered, much to the three men's amusement. "Those are my best friends! Phil's like my brother! I don't need that image in my head."

"Just saying." Colby laughed, reaching towards me to pat my knee in mock comfort. "Earphones will be your new best friends while riding with them sweetheart."

Just as I was about to reply, a backstage hand walked up to us, the same one that Phil and I had met earlier in the day. She proceeded to hand the three men some papers (most likely their schedules for the next week) before turning to me. "Ms. Levesque, Mr. McMahon would like you to see you in the gorilla."

"Please, call me Toni." I told her, standing and turning to address the three men I had been talking to. "I'll talk to you guys tomorrow if I don't manage to catch you later. Uncle Vince likes to have me watch the show with him in the gorilla during PPVs."

"See ya around kid." Ambrose nodded, waving me off.

"See you Tones." Joe nodded, sending me off with a warm smile.

"I'll get your number from AJ so we can save you from the horror show in the future!" Colby waved enthusiastically, causing me to guffaw, continuing even as I left the monitor area.

I made my way to the gorilla, a smile still gracing my lips from that interaction. It had left me hopeful of my future with my job. I needed to start getting to know everyone on the roster, and re-acquainting myself with the ones I had met before.

"Tonya."

I froze, feeling someone gently grasp my forearm. Slowly, I turned back and locked gazes with the one person I had been dreading to meet since I stepped foot in the arena.

"Drew." I hated how out of breath I sounded. I hated that I still found his stupid face and accent still so attractive. "What do you want?"

"I think you know." Seafoam eyes bore down on me. I hated how my legs suddenly felt like jelly. "We need to talk."

I shook my head, finally breaking eye contact. "I have somewhere to be. I shou—"

"Tonya please."

I hated how that name fell so easily from his lips. As if he hadn't missed a beat in four years.

"No." I said firmly, shaking of his hand and stepping back. "Vince needs me in the gorilla, I have no time to talk to you."

Drew stepped away, frowning but nodded in understanding. "Later. We'll talk later."

I didn't bother replying, not even a nod. I simply turned away and rushed to the direction of the gorilla. I was most definitely not going to talk to him later. And if at all possible, I didn't want to talk to him ever again.

Because I hated how my heart trembled because of him. I hated how I had felt about him. I hated how I had let my heart be broken by him. I hated myself for allowing myself to even still feel anything for him at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please don't forget to leave a review or a kudos. Your support is very much appreciated!


	3. Saving Graces

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you reading this story! I enjoy writing this story because I love WWE.
> 
> Disclaimer: I own nothing but my original character and the plot.

Van Andel Arena Parking, CM Punk's Bus

The next day found the WWE in Grand Rapids, Michigan for Monday Night RAW.

At 9 a.m. most of the roster were probably still in Illinois, gearing for the 2-hour trip to Michigan. Most of them probably wouldn't even be at the arena until call time after lunch.

As for me—

"Dude, did you even sleep?"

I tore my attention away from the screen of my laptop so fast that I had to scramble for my reading glasses which whipped off their perch on my face.

Phil had walked into the lounge area of his bus, scratching his bare chest and clearly just having woke up. He snorted at my reaction, ruffling my hair as he went to drape himself on the couch across the aisle.

"Is our new Diva's Champ up yet?" I asked him, turning back to the digital screen in front of me and the proposal I was typing out. "I thought we were going to the gym."

"Nah." I heard him say. "I'm letting her sleep in. Our celebration last night took a lot out of her."

I gagged at the image in my head, remember what the guys of the Shield had to say about Phil and April's… intimate activities.

"Mating cats." I muttered to myself.

"What was that?"

"Nothing!" I said quickly, flashing him an innocent grin which I know for sure he didn't buy. "Put on a shirt."

"Put on pants." Phil retorted, tugging at the hem of the oversized orange John Cena shirt I was wearing. "And a better shirt. How dare you wear this garbage in my home."

"Make an orange shirt and _then_ I'll get rid of this." I pinched his hand that was tugging on my shirt so he would let go. "You hater."

"Yeah? _You're_ an orange addict."

"It's not an addiction! It's an appreciation!"

"It's hideous!"

"You're hideous!"

"You're a bit—"

"Is this how our mornings will be from now on?"

We halted from our bickering to see April standing behind us, wearing just one of Phil's shirts, and still sleepily rubbing at her eyes.

"Hey honey." Phil greeted softly, reaching a hand out for her before tugging April towards him so she could lay on top of him. "Did we wake you up?"

"Not really." She mumbled into his chest, snuggling closer. "I woke up when you left."

"Sorry Ape." I watched as Phil pressed a kiss to her temple and I felt my heart warm at the scene. Two of my favorite people in the world were so clearly in love and happy with one another. It was one of the nicest things to see. "We can go back to bed now if you want?"

"What about Toni?" April shifted in his hold so she could look at me and address me herself. "Did you sleep?"

"I slept last night." I assured her. "You guys can go back to bed. It's still early. Call time isn't till noon."

"But what will you do till then?"

"I still have a proposal to hash out." I pointed back to my laptop. "And I'm meeting Uncle Paul and Vince for brunch so I'll be occupied. Don't worry about me and get more rest."

April nodded before getting up, Phil following in her actions. "We'll see you later geek baby." She murmured, hugging me around the neck and pressing a quick kiss to my cheek before she walked back to the bedroom at the back of the bus.

"Catch you later buttercup." Phil leaned in next, kissing my other cheek. "You promised me ring time later."

"I know." I smiled up at him, patting his arm before gently nudging him to follow after his girlfriend. "Get more sleep bro. I don't like the look of those eye-bags."

He must've been more tired than either of us realized because he didn't bother to acknowledge my last statement, instead he took off after April, yawning loudly on the way.

Once I heard the door that separated the bedroom from the rest of the bus click close, I turned back to my laptop, sighing as I looked over it again. I may have lied a bit to Phil and April about getting sleep last night, because I was busy finishing the outline of steps, I would take to do my job. There were several guidelines I wanted to implement when it came to talent care as well as the methods of monitoring each and every one of them.

Social media would be a big help in monitoring them and their interactions with the fans and I would most definitely take advantage of that, but keeping track of backstage gossip and politics was a whole different matter. I needed to figure out how I would keep an eye on all of that buzz.

I looked out of the bus window, thinking of possibilities and weighing my options.

My saving grace however, came in the form of a black sedan that pulled up to park beside the bus. I watched as the people in the car got out and the light bulb in my head flickered to life. With a large smile on my face and hope in my heart, I wrote down my idea in the proposal.

The dots were starting to connect for me and I couldn't be more relieved about making headway with this job.

* * *

Van Andel Arena, Backstage

Instead of our previous brunch plans, Uncle Paul had called me to just meet them in their designated office backstage in the arena. Which to me was a perfectly agreeable alternative because it meant I didn't have to change into a nice cocktail dress and take an Uber to a fancy restaurant that was only 3 minutes away because I couldn't walk all the way there in heels.

Meeting them backstage meant I got to dress casually without being judged.

So dressed in yoga pants and an old shirt with the Mishima Zaibatsu logo from Tekken on it, I strolled into the "office" designated for the Authority. I was only expecting a meeting with Uncle Paul and Vince, not aware of the surprise they had in store for me.

"Hello family! I have come to grace you with my glorious presence!" I exclaimed as I entered with my arms raised. "Bask in the glory that I—" It was then that I had taken note of the third person in the room. I gaped for a moment at the presence of the third person before I shrieked and bounded towards them to tackle them with a hug. "AUNT STEPH!"

"My girl!" I heard her laugh as she returned the embrace just as tight if not tighter. "My Toni!"

"Oh my god Aunt Steph you're here!" I squeezed my arms around her waist gently, burying my face against her shoulder and just basking in her warmth and the scent of her perfume. Despite speaking with her over the phone almost every night or texting her at all possible times, I hadn't seen her in person since Christmas of last year. "I missed you so much!"

"I missed you too sweetie." Aunt Steph crooned, stroking my hair as she began rocking us side to side. "So so much!"

"Do you see this Vince?" I heard Uncle Paul playfully scoff. "I greet her and end up getting called sneaky. But when it's Steph it's all 'I miss you's and happiness and lovey-dovey. Unbelievable!"

"Well to be fair Paul, you did put her on the spot in front of everyone." Vince pointed out, chuckling.

Aunt Steph and I looked up to see the two men watching us with varying degrees of amusement. I stuck my tongue out at my uncle which earned me a playfully stern look from him. "You watch your attitude young lady."

I giggled, ducking back to bury my face against Aunt Steph's collarbone who I could feel shaking from her own laughter. "Aunt Steph is my favorite. / I'm her favorite" We both declared.

"The betrayal!" He gasped in mock horror, garnering a laugh from all of us. "From my own blood and my wife!"

After that whole scene was over, the four of us sat down to have lunch (which was delivered from catering) and had a chat about everything, ranging from our family (the girls were doing great in school and I was told to expect a call from Aunt Linda soon), to how the last few months of college were for me, and about the plans I had for my new job.

"I'll have the proposal ready to go by Friday. Thursday at the earliest." I explained to them as we polished off our plates. "I'll email it to your offices as soon as I finish proof-reading."

"That's great sweetie." Aunt Steph said, wiping her lips with a napkin. "But you don't have to rush yourself into the job. We wanted you to at least take your first month back to re-acclimate yourself to everything."

"I know," I nodded, pushing my empty plate back. "But I just really wanted to get all the paperwork out of the way so I don't have to worry about it anymore you know?"

"Just finish what your proposal then we'll take care of the rest." Uncle Paul said. "By the way, would you be opposed to appearances on screen?"

I grimaced a bit at the suggestion. "Total Divas?"

"Creative was thinking more of adding you to some future story-lines." Aunt Steph clarified for me, thank god. I would rather not have cameras following me around to film a "reality" show.

"I'll think about it." I answered slowly. "I'm not opposed to backstage segments and in-ring promos. But if you expect me to wrestle..."

"One day Toni, you'll get in that ring and take your rightful place." Uncle Paul sighed and I could only shrug back noncommittally. "You have the training and it's in your blood."

This was an ongoing topic in our family. Ever since I took an interest in learning how to wrestle when I was a teenager, Uncle Paul had got it into his head that I would one day be a wrestler myself. Essentially, I was the heir— _his_ heir to the Helmsley wrestling legacy.

"One day." I conceded, earning a small smirk from my uncle. "But not anytime soon. Maybe when you get rid of the Diva stamp, I'll commit to the craft."

"We'll leave that discussion up in the air for now." Vince piped in, pushing his chair back. "I'm very excited to see what you bring to the plate ducky. I'm sure the board of directors are too."

"I definitely won't let you down." I said, sounding more confident than I had been feeling the past few weeks. "I really want to do this you know? Not just for the company but for every talent we have back here and the talent we'll have in the future."

"That's my girl!" Aunt Steph cheered, pulling me into a side hug. I could practically feel the pride she had in me radiating from her. "She gets it from me!"

"Nope." Uncle Paul squeezed into my other side, hugging the both of us tightly. "She got it from me!"

"I'd say she got it from me but I'd rather not get into that argument." Vince shrugged, taking his phone from his pocket and snapping a quick picture of the three of us. "I'll have to send this to Linda and Shane."

"Okay, alright. Enough hugging." I wriggled between my aunt and uncle, laughing as I struggled to get free from their grasp. "Guys! I have to meet Phil at the ring!"

"Future Diva's Champ." Uncle Paul mock-whispered to Aunt Steph, making me roll my eyes at him.

"Women's Champion." Aunt Steph returned.

"See old man?" I pointed at my Uncle as I stood up. "Aunt Steph gets it."

"Get out of here." He grunted, swatting me lightly on my bum causing me to squeal as I ran to the door. "Tell Punk you're his pain in the ass again."

"Rude!" I huffed. "This is why Aunt Steph is my favorite you know!" I let out a squeak and ducked out of the room when I saw a spoon heading my way.

"Paul!"

"It wouldn't have hit her!"

I laughed to myself at the antics of my family as I made my way down the hall, getting my phone out of the waistband of my yoga pants.

I sent a quick text to Phil about meeting him in the ring after he clocked in and requested that he bring with him the duffel bag I had left on the bus with a change of clothes. Knowing him, Phil would make us work a sweat in the ring since we didn't manage to go to the gym this morning.

As I turned the corner, I had no time to evade the hand that shot out and grabbed my arm. The next thing I knew, I was pinned to the wall and staring up at one Scotsman.

"What the hell Drew?!" I hissed, my heart pounding against my rib cage. "What the shit is wrong with you?!"

"Sorry Tonya." Drew chuckled, letting go of my arm. "Didn't mean to give you a fright."

"Of course, you didn't." I muttered, frowning up at him. "What do you want?"

"You promised we would talk."

"I promised no such thing." I rebutted. That was when I noticed how close he was standing to me. His 6'5" frame towered over my 5'7 stature', his chest was barely brushing mine, and only now did I feel how his breath fanned across my face. I felt my mouth go dry. "You're standing too close."

"You never complained before." He teased, moving to brush a finger against my cheek which I quickly slapped away.

"Stop that." I glared up at him, pushing him back so he wasn't so close. "Get away from me!"

I moved to walk away from him only to have him grasp at my hand and pull be back towards him. "Tonya come on. Please we have to talk."

"Talk about what?" I tried to shake off his hand, barely managing to loosen his hold much to my frustration.

"About us." Drew sighed, carding his free hand through my hair and leaning down to press his forehead against mine. I shuddered at the feel of his breath brushing against my lips and I hated myself for wanting to lean into him more, even if it was just a passing thought. "Tonya, we have to talk about us."

"What _us_?" I growled out, shoving at his chest again to create space between us with little to no results. "There is no _us._ As far as I'm concerned there was _never_ any _us_. Now _**let go of me!**_ "

"Tonya ple—"

"Hey what's going on here?"

I took advantage of Drew's momentary distraction and got away from him, walking quickly towards my second saving grace of the day.

Colby stood in the middle of the hallway, in his street clothes with a backpack slung against his shoulder. I stood to a stop in front of him, taking deep breaths and counting to ten in my head so I wouldn't let my emotions run roughshod in front of the two men. Especially not in front of Drew.

"Is there a problem here Drew?" I heard Colby growl out. And because my head was bowed, I saw how he adjusted his feet to keep them apart. It was his in-character stance, the one I saw him and the Shield guys take on when they were in the ring. "What do you need from Toni?"

"It's none of _your_ business Lopez." Drew growled, I heard him take a step in our direction which caused me to tense and take a step closer to Colby, grasping the front of his shirt in my fist. "Tonya and I were just talking."

"Well it looks to me like _Toni_ is done talking with you." Colby snapped back, taking a hold of my wrist and squeezing it gently in reassurance. "You can go away now."

"Tonya—"

"Just leave me alone Drew." I sighed, not looking back at him because I was just absolutely done with him at this point. "Just go."

"We _will_ talk Tonya." I heard him sigh before walking away.

As soon as the sound of his footsteps were gone, I looked up at Colby and saw him still glaring down the hallway. I let go of his shirt and stepped back, he let his hand fall away from my wrist.

"Thanks for that." I said, managing to give him a smile which I hoped conveyed my gratitude.

"Not a problem sweetheart." He looked back to me, his glare falling away to change into a bashful smile. "Mind telling me what that was all about?"

I shook my head, suddenly feeling drained from the encounter. "It's not something I like talking about. Maybe I'll tell you someday but for now can you just keep this between us?"

His brow furrowed at my request. "If he's gonna be a problem for you, I'd rather you tell me so I can keep you safe."

"Drew's not dangerous outside of the ring." I assured him, not wanting to make a big deal out of it anymore. "Maybe I'll tell you someday but right now I just want to forget about it."

Colby conceded reluctantly before he nodded down to my shirt. "You play Tekken?"

"Yes!" I perked up, welcoming the subject change. "Do you play?"

"Yeah, but I prefer Mortal Kombat." He chuckled before clearing his throat and imitating the voice in the game. "Finish him!"

"Fatality!" I exclaimed, try to do my best imitation but ultimately failing since I—obviously, did not possess the deeper tones of a man.

We shared a laugh, the events that happened moments prior shoved aside. I was glad for the reprieve. Drew was not a topic I liked thinking about, much less talk about with anyone. Shaking my head again, I cleared the thoughts of the Scotsman from the front of my mind and focused my attention on the man standing in front of me.

"Did you just get in?" I asked, gesturing towards his bag.

"Yeah." Colby confirmed, adjusting his grip on his backpack. "Jon and Joe actually sent me ahead to look for our locker room but I kinda got lost, then I found you." The fact that he found me with Drew was left unmentioned, something I was grateful for. "What about you? I saw Punk's bus out in parking. What time did you guys get here?"

"Oh, we actually got he— ohmygosh Phil!" I gasped, scrambling to unlock my phone and saw that I now had about 2 missed calls and at least a dozen texts from him. "Oh shit I'm late!"

"Late to what?" Colby asked, most likely befuddled by my quick turns in mood.

"I promised to meet him in the ring cause we didn't get to go to the gym today. He hates when I'm late and now he's gonna run me to the ground cause of it." I groaned, sending a quick text to Phil, telling him I was on my way.

"I'm sure if you tell him what happened he'll let you off easy."

"I wish!" I snorted. "He'll run me to the ground first _then_ go off and attempt murder on _him."_

"And we don't want that?" Colby asked, blinking down at me with wide brown eyes.

"No, we don't." I rolled my eyes, making a show of looking around as if checking to make sure no one was listening in. I leaned in, causing him to imitate my movements. "We wouldn't have a place to hide the body."

I grinned when he barked out a laugh, slapping his own stomach. "Okay this is getting way too dark. You gotta go!"

"You started it." I teased, taking one of his hands and shaking it with both of mine. "Well I'll leave you to find your locker room Colby. Thanks again for the interference."

"Any time sweetheart. I'll be your knight is shining armor when you need me." He winked, causing me to let out another snort.

"More like SWAT gear." I let go of his hand and danced away when he tried to poke my side. "I'll see you around Colby!"

"I might go down to the ring to see you wrestle Punk in a bit!" I heard him call out as I got to the end of the hallway.

"Then I'll see you and maybe even school you!" I looked back and waved at him, giggling when I saw him scoff at my words. "See you later rook!"

Turning away from him, I finally made my way to ring, feeling lighter now that all of that was over and done with. My phone vibrated in my hand and I swiped to answer it.

"Buttercup, I am in the ring! Where are you?"

"I'm on my way Phil! Chill man!"

With that, I ended the call and continued walking, never noticing that the smile on my lips had yet to go away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Please don't forget to leave a review, it helps! A kudos wouldn't hurt either!


	4. Come Along With Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really love writing this. Thank you for reading!
> 
> I do not own anything related to the WWE. I merely own my original character and part of the plot.

Van Andel Arena, Backstage

When I was younger, during summer vacations I would travel with my uncle to all of the WWE (or back then it was WWF) shows when he was finally signed with and found stability within the company. For the rest of the year I would be with my grandparents in New Hampshire for school, but those 2 and a half months with my uncle and the WWE on the road will always be the best times in my life.

During those times, I would find myself in certain places backstage to sit and wait for my uncle to finish his matches or promos. I didn't really like hanging out in the locker rooms because 1, The men's locker rooms were just absolutely out of bounds because there were some things that were in and happened in there that a little girl should never see, or so Uncle Paul and Shawn told me.

2, I had learned early on that hanging out in the women's locker room would result in me either getting my cheeks pinched and kissed all night long or getting turned into a human barbie doll.

So, with a bit of exploration (sparing no expense at uncle Paul's nerves when I would wander off without his notice), I would usually find myself sitting at a table in catering near the television monitors or sitting on top of a crate near the gorilla, keeping myself occupied with a coloring book or a Game Boy in hand. As the years passed, whenever anyone wanted to find me, they would know to look in those two places first.

It was no different tonight for my first RAW back since 2009.

I sat cross-legged on top of a work crate near the gorilla, nose buried in my phone as I scrolled through the house show schedules I requested for earlier. I relished in the noise of the crowd that drifted into the hallway, covering my ears whenever I knew there would by pyrotechnics for the entrance of a superstar, and waving in greeting to the passing employees.

Sitting here just made me feel so much closer to the WWE Universe, the WWE itself, and the essence of what this whole business was about. I sat there and watched as the superstars pass by after their matches, either smiling or frowning; depending on their performances, and was reminded about why exactly I wanted to create that little niche of a job I had in the first place.

The superstars and divas did so much for the people and the company, they sacrificed so much for their dreams and aspirations, the least the company could do was to take care of them. And my job was to listen to them, figure out how to take care of them, and see what the company and I could do for them.

Besides, boosting talent morale could also help improve performance and effort as a whole, so it would be a win-win thing for both sides. Huh, I would have to add that to my presentation to the board.

Pulling up the note application on my phone, I typed that idea down. I didn't look up when I saw someone in my periphery come up and sit down beside me, only deigning to give the person my attention when I was finally finished writing down what I needed, setting my phone down beside me on top of the work crate.

"Hello Randal." I grinned up at WWE's Apex Predator, watching as his nose scrunched up in distaste at my use of his full first name. "How can I help you?"

"If you call me Randal, I'll call you Antonia." He smirked, seeing my own reaction to my full first name. "How've you been kid? Sorry we didn't get to catch up last night."

"I'm good." I wrapped my arms around his waist and squeezed him in a hug which was promptly returned. "And it's alright, I was sitting in the gorilla last night and Noble decided to give me a crash course on calling camera angles so I was busy. Plus, you had a match so you were busy too. Anyway, how are you? With the—"

"Divorce?" I sat there silently, watching him sigh and run a hand over his face. He looked so exhausted and it just pulled at my heart strings to see him so defeated. "Sam and I are trying to just make this as clean a break as possible. We tried to make it work you know? Tried to fix us but it just ended up in divorce anyway."

I patted his thigh gently, a small gesture of comfort. "The hardest part is explaining everything to Alanna. She's only turning 5 so she doesn't understand why her daddy and mommy don't share a room anymore when he's at home."

"She'll understand when she's a bit older." I said to him, squeezing his bicep briefly in comfort.

Randy had been a good friend while I was growing up. A sort of brother figure who looked out for me when I was backstage. I was definitely closer to Phil, despite knowing him later in life. But Randy was up there in the list of people I knew and trusted backstage. It was disheartening to see him so down and out.

"It's good that you and Sam are keeping this civil."

"We have to keep it civil. For Alanna."

I nodded in understanding. "Alanna comes first."

A production assistant poked his head out of the doorway of the gorilla position, reminding Randy that he had about 5 minutes before his music hit.

"I gotta go." Randy sighed again, jumping up from the crate and stretching up on his haunches. "Thanks for listening Little H."

"It's gonna be my job so—" I broke off with a shrug, swerving to the side to avoid the hand that had reached out to ruffle my hair only to be locked into a headlock and on the receiving end of noogie. I laughed and shoved him away from me. "Get out of here and go be the Viper!"

"I'll see you around Tones." Randy chuckled, letting me go as he walked towards the gorilla. "By the way, Punk was looking for you earlier."

I stared after him in disbelief, scoffing slightly at his last sendoff statement. "Only now he tells me."

I uncrossed my legs, hopping down from the crate and stretching so I could get the feeling back in my limbs. I grabbed my phone off the crate before making my way down the hall, intent on finding Phil.

Thankfully, he wasn't very hard to find. He was just standing in front of the men's locker room, leaning back against the wall— although he wasn't alone. He stood there, discussing something with the three members of the Shield. I smirked when I saw Joe's back turned to me, an idea popping into my head.

"Head's up Joe!" I called, making them whirl around to look at me, before I took a running start and leaping onto Joe's back, causing him to grunt in surprise. "Hello gentlemen."

"I could've dropped you!" Joe grumbled, adjusting his stance so I could lock my legs around his waist and he wouldn't drop me. "A warning would have been nice baby girl."

"But you didn't." I pointed out happily, earning myself an irritated look from the Samoan. "And I did warn you. I said 'heads up', that was a warning."

"She's got you there, brother." Ambrose chuckled, raising a hand to give me a high five in greeting. "Sup, kiddo? Where've you been?"

"Here and there." I answered vaguely, turning my head to look at Colby and grinned, reaching out to bump fists with him. "We meet again my knight in SWAT gear."

"What in what now?"

"Long story." Colby waved off Joe's query, moving his hand to poke at my side which made me flinch. "You came around just in time sweetheart."

I raised my eyebrow at that before shooting a glance at a nonchalant Phil. "Well I was told Phil was looking for me. What did you need me for oh brother of mine?"

"I talked with Hunter about your traveling means." Phil told me. "You're taking the bus to house shows even without me."

"And I already told you both that I was okay with just renting a car." I said, leaning on Joe's shoulder which made him adjust his stance again. "April and I can just travel together."

"You're a sucky driver Buttercup, and April is 5'2. I'd rather my girls be safely driven in a bus than possibly be harassed when they stop for gas." He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose to get a grip on his temper.

This subject was a bit of an irritant to him because we kept going at it over and over. "Besides, April won't always be able to travel with you because she won't be at all the house shows either. So, you can take the bus on the road when we're gone. Besides, I already found you riding buddies."

"Who?" I asked dumbly, causing all the men around me to shake their heads, chuckling. That was when I connected the dots. "Wait— The Shield will be riding with us?"

"Yep. Apparently, Hunter wants you to stick to whatever house shows they'll be at when you're on the road."

I was a bit skeptical after hearing that statement. My uncle, the most over protective man in my life (Phil was a close second. He would have been first but he's never been sent into a near panic attack whenever I would wander off from his side. Uncle Paul on the other hand…), wanting me to stick to 3 new bloods instead of the veterans which I grew up around?

I mean— I guess I kind of get him wanting me to stick by Joe; since I sort of grew up around him and my family knew his family very well— but Ambrose and Colby were sort of newer people to me, which made me wonder why my uncle decided on what he did.

He didn't trust anyone but our family with me. Hell, it took him a whole year of me being in college before he even fully trusted Phil with me. Although Joe was probably the ultimate deciding factor to all of this news, I couldn't help but feel like there was another reason why he wanted me to stick with all three of them.

Probably noticing the scrunch forming between my brows, Ambrose spoke up. "You don't want us to ride with you kid?"

I shook my head, pushing my suspicions away for now. "No, it's not that. But after what you guys told me about Phil and April being like mati—" I squeaked when three hands all scrambled to cover my mouth and muffle the rest of my statement. "Mmmfph!"

"Ignore her."

"We never said anything."

"Nothing about mating cats was ever mentioned— **OW**!" Colby hissed, clutching at his ribs where Ambrose had elbowed him in warning. "Ignore me too."

Phil stared at all four of us incredulously before he rolled his eyes and straightened from his previous stance. "I'm going to ignore all of that for the sake of my own sanity." He said, before walking away. "I'm gonna go find Heyman and talk story lines with him, I'll see you four later. Ambrose, Reigns, Rollins, she's now your pain in the ass."

"You love me!" I said as soon as I pushed away the hands covering my mouth. "I'm the light of your life."

"You keep saying that but I still have my doubts!" Phil called out as he turned the corner of the hall, his footsteps fading away soon enough. "Good luck with her!"

"Rude!" I turned my attention back to the three men that were left in my presence. "Looks like we'll be stuck on the road together guys!"

"Enduring the horrendous sounds of mating cat sex from the comfort of the bunk beds." Ambrose smirked, sending me into a fit of laughter. "I claim top bunk by the way."

"Same here." Joe spoke from below me as he started walking down the hall, still carrying me. The two others followed after us. "You okay with that Tones?"

"I always take bottom bunk anyway." I shrugged. "I move around in my sleep so if I fall to the floor, it won't be too far a fall."

We walked (or in my case, I was being carried) for a while before finally reaching catering. Joe set me down on my feet as he made a beeline for the table with a bunch of refreshments on it. I walked towards a vacant table that was conveniently right next to the monitor set up.

Colby and Jon followed close by and sat down on either side of me, Joe not far behind as he walked over to the table with 4 bottles of water in hand before and sat across from me, making me feel as though I had actual security guards.

Honestly, I wouldn't put it past Phil or Uncle Paul to talk them into acting as security. Those two took the definition of the words over protective into a whole other level if you ask me. Probably another deciding factor to sticking me with the Shield.

"Hey Toni~"

I turned to Colby who was leaning back in his chair and grinning at me widely, a glint in his eye that I recognized as a hint of mischief. This peaked me curiosity and most definitely got my attention.

"Yeah?"

"Two words: Bunk buddies."

I gasped, feeling a matching grin come over my face in response to his words. "Oh my god we're bunk buddies!" I squealed, jumping in my seat excitedly.

I heard the two older men of our group groan almost inaudibly, Ambrose taking it further by facepalming and muttering under his breath about something which suspiciously sounded like "Troublesome kids."

Colby and I ignored them, opting to bump fists again instead. The two us then started to make plans about what we would do while traveling together, and talked about the video games we both boasted to beat each other at. I had a good feeling about this whole thing. I had a good feeling about Colby too. That he would be a very good friend in the times to come.

As all of this went on, none of us noticed a pair of blue eyes watching all of this go on from another table. A frown set firmly on his face as he watched, not knowing what to make of it.

* * *

Van Andel Arena, Parking Lot

Hours later, when the show had finally ended, the superstars were gearing to leave for their hotels, maybe catch a flight home, or make the drive to the next town where the SmackDown taping would be. Since Phil had a bus, the ones riding with him didn't have to worry about driving or booking rooms. We could take our time because we had someone else make the 4 hour drive to Dayton, Ohio for us for the SmackDown taping.

At this time I found myself standing outside the bus, wrapped in a tight embrace within the arms of my Aunt Steph while Uncle Paul talked with Phil about the Shield accompanying me on the bus whenever Phil himself wasn't on the road.

I had already said my farewells to the three men earlier, before they left to go catch flights home because they weren't scheduled to tape SmackDown tomorrow. I would see them again on Friday for the next house show.

Colby, I would be seeing a lot sooner than the other two because he would reunite with me for the 13 hour trip on the bus from Chicago to Mobile, Alabama. Since he lived in Davenport, he would be making the 2 hour drive to Chicago and join me on the bus since I was strictly not to be left alone to travel while on the road, according to my family.

I didn't try to protest anymore, especially when Aunt Steph put her foot down on that argument.

Despite Phil not being needed for SmackDown's taping, he would still be accompanying April and I but would most likely be staying in the bus most of the time, sleeping off the fatigue of getting F5ed by Brock Lesnar. After that, the three of us would make our way home to Chicago to rest up for a few days. Then my best friends would send Colby and I off on our merry way to Alabama on Thursday night.

I snuggled deeper in my Aunt Steph's arms, trying to soak up her presence and comforting scent because I wouldn't be seeing her again until next week's RAW. We stood there embracing, with her just stroking my hair gently and pressing a soft kiss to the side of my head.

"You be safe on the road Antonia, do you hear me?" Aunt Steph was one of the few (very very few) people who could say my full first name and make not make me cringe. "And you better video call tomorrow. The girls miss you and keep asking when you're coming to visit."

I nodded, feeling myself start to mope. Even knowing I was seeing her in a week, I felt sad leaving without her or not being able to go with her and Uncle Paul to Connecticut because I had to get my affairs in order. I hadn't seen her since Christmas and we only really had a few moments to catch up earlier since she was busy supervising.

It wouldn't be any better in the following months since I would be sticking close to the roster's schedule since the board and myself wanted me to be on hand and up close with the talent while I was working.

But I would take whatever I could get, spend as much time with her and my family on the road as our schedules allowed.

I felt someone come up next to us before another body joined our embrace, trapping me in between them. Uncle Paul pressed his own kiss to the crown of my head, rubbing my back gently when I started to lean into him too.

"Take care of our kid Phil." Uncle Paul said, his chest rumbling against my back as he spoke. "You call me if anything goes wrong."

"I always take care of her." Phil said. I looked up to see him in front of the open bus doors with a smiling April at his side, awkwardly watching my little family moment. "Besides, I'll soon have Lopez and the others looking after her too."

"I'm kind of offended at the implication that I'm a trouble magnet." I huffed, finally extracting myself from the embrace, subtly wiping at my eyes because I had felt myself get a bit teary back there.

"You _are_." Uncle Paul and Phil both exchanged slightly disturbed looks due to the fact that they had said that at the same time, much to us other three females' amusement.

Moments later, I found myself standing between my two best friends and waving off the car that drove my family to their hotel so they could get ready for the flight home to Hartford.

When their vehicle finally left the parking lot, its tail lights fading into the distance until finally it was too far to make out, I slumped against Phil who had wrapped an arm around my shoulder. He ruffled the back of my head, pressing me against his side for a moment before finally letting go.

"Come on Buttercup." He sighed, gesturing April and I to get into the bus first. "You can sleep between April and me tonight."

I was grateful for that gesture, especially knowing that Phil knew how down I could feel after having to say goodbye to my family. He may not be on great terms with them, but he knew what they meant to me. And in spite of everything between him and them, Phil always took care of me. _Always._ This was just another one of those examples.

"Let's go my geek baby." April said, taking me hand and pulling me towards the bedroom. "Get dressed in your pajamas and we can play some Crash Bandicoot."

I felt my mood lift at the mention of the game. "You have the Tag Team Racing one, right?"

"Of course!"

We left Phil to speak to our driver, Frank, giving him the signal that we could finally leave for the next city. He joined us later, when April and I were finally in our pajamas and setting up the game in the bedroom television. He stretched himself on the right side of the bed on my other side, ice pack in hand for his neck, as he watched April and I play together.

I didn't know when I had drifted off to sleep, but when I blearily opened my eyes hours later to darkness, I couldn't help but sigh in content and happiness. A far cry from what I had been feeling earlier when I had said goodbye to the people who were in all but actual DNA, my parents.

Because I was warm and safe, lying between two of my favorite people in the world. Phil had an arm settled over my waist, and April who I had been facing, had our hands intertwined between us.

I let my eyes close, falling back asleep— comforted by the knowledge that I had more family on the road with me than I realized.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> Please leave a review if you can it would help a lot!


	5. Road Trippin'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I enjoy writing it!  
> Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OC and the backstage plot.

June 2013; Chicago, Illinois; Thursday — Afternoon

The meeting had gone well.

Most of the board had liked the ideas I pitched—albeit a few of the other ideas still needed a bit more refining, but I had managed to get them to visualize how my plans would benefit the company in the long run. There were even talks of branching out in the future, plans of giving me my own division in corporate to manage. Some of the other members who had more doubts about my age and lack of experience, questioned my ability to get the job done. Uncle Vince shut them down though, and with the vote of confidence by the chairman of the board I was set.

Now, Internal Talent Relations was a one-person team, consisting of yours truly. At least until I set step one of my plans into action.

Until then, I could enjoy my time getting used to life on the road with the roster. I can take the time to get to know the wrestlers better, find out how relations with the talent could be improved, maybe even make plans to extend my goals to the newer talent down in the development centers. I should probably talk to uncle Paul about that, but maybe another time since he had to be occupied talking to the family lawyer about drafting my contract to make my designation official.

The thought of my position finally being made official had me wanting to squeal out in delight. Which I did promptly, falling face first onto my couch and squealing my excitement into one of the throw pillows. I kicked my legs in the air like a kid. There wasn’t anyone around to judge me anyway. It was just me in my apartment, free to act and look like an idiot without worry of someone walking in and—

“The hell did I just walk into?”

My squeals of delight turned into shrieks of terror when I realized that my show of childishness had been intruded upon.

“Phil!” I shrieked, gasping when I fell off the couch in my haste to sit myself up properly. Next thing I knew I was staring up at my living room ceiling, a bit dazed at the turn of events.

“Need a hand there, Buttercup?” Phil’s face appeared, hovering above me with a smirk. I fought the urge to smack it off.

“Shut up.” I grumbled, pushing his face away before sitting up. “What are you even doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be skulking in your man cave or something?”

“Well,” He drawled, flopping down on the couch and grabbing one of the pillows, tossing it up and down in the air. “April’s back in Florida packing her things but she said I should get out of the house more. She suggested I bother you if I was bored.”

_ Gee,  _ I thought bemusedly. _ Thanks Ap.  _

With a sigh, I wrenched myself onto the couch and sat down. I shoved my feet at Phil’s thighs so he would move onto the other side instead of sitting in the middle. “Well as much as I want to entertain you, I have to pack my bags for until Tuesday next week. And I haven’t had lunch yet either.”

“We can order a pizza. I’ll get veggie you get your favorite cheese.” Phil shrugged before standing up and walking towards the direction of my bedroom. “And I can help you pack faster. So, let’s  get-a- movin ' Buttercup! You got a long road trip ahead of you.”

I scrambled to run after him, a bit flustered at the thought of him going through my drawers. “Phil, wait! Don’t open the first drawer!”

“Why? What’s in it?”

* * *

Later That Evening

I sat on top of my suitcase, in front of my apartment building as I waited for my companion to arrive so we could board the bus and get away from Chicago and the situation I had found myself in. I felt mortified, I wanted to stick my head in the sand and scream into the very core of the earth.

“Toni.”

“I don’t want to talk to you.”

“It’s fine, you can just listen.”

“Shut up. I hate you.”

“It’s a perfectly healthy and normal thing for women your age to do Buttercup.”

“Phil.” I hissed, sending the older man a glare which did not affect him at all. The expression on his face still promised endless teasing.

“Look, there’s no shame in having vibrators and other toys when you’re a single and celibate young woman.”

“Oh my god.” I muttered, burying my face into the sleeves of the oversized sweatshirt I had long ago stolen from Phil, wishing the ground would swallow me right up. “Please Phil just stop.”

“As your older brother I feel like it’s my duty to reassure you that masturbation is scientifically proven to improve one’s health so there’s no shame in doing it Tones.”

I whimpered, praying to whatever deity that would listen to stop whatever hell I had been dragged to, to save me from further embarrassment. I needed some kind of divine intervention to get my heart-brother to just stop.

“Hey guys. What’s up?”

I looked up, my heart lifting as if the sun had suddenly risen out of the dark sky. My saving grace had arrived. My knight in SWAT gear!

Which probably wasn’t an accurate description of him at the moment. My bunk buddy stood on the sidewalk, dressed casually in sweatpants and a hoodie, suitcase in hand and ready to go. It was exactly what I needed.

“Colby!” I cried in relief, launching myself at him and latching onto his arm and dragging him in the direction of the bus doors. “Let’s go! We have to leave like right now!”

“But what about Pun—”

“Forget Punk!” I hissed under my breath, shifting stances so I was now behind him and pushing him onwards. “Let’s just go!”

“I was hoping you would meet my brother first, but alright.” Colby looked amused but he humored me as he allowed me to continue pushing him towards the bus.

He’d finally set foot on the bus stairs, but before I could make it any further, a hand grabbed the back of my collar and pulled me back. I had to scramble for balance so I wouldn’t fall to the pavement, unfortunately that meant I was dragged right back to square one.

“Where are your manners Antonia?” Phil scolded playfully. “You and Lopez can’t leave yet. You have to meet his brother first!”

I elbowed Phil in the ribs, a little warning so he wouldn’t bring up the topic from earlier. I turned to Colby’s brother, offering him a courteous smile and my hand in greeting. “Hi! I’m Toni, it’s nice to meet you!”

“I’m Brandon.” He offered me a toothy grin, nudging Colby who had sidled up beside him in all the commotion that had happened. “I’m this guy’s older brother.”

“Sorry you drove all the way from Davenport to drop him off.” I looked to Colby who glanced around the surroundings, obviously avoiding anyone’s gaze. “I offered to just pick him up at home but he refused.”

“It’s alright.” Brandon shrugged, slinging an arm around his brother’s shoulders and bringing him in closer so he could ruffle his hair. “I had someone to meet up here anyway.”

“Alright, alright get off!” Colby grunted, pushing his brother off. “We’re gonna go now. We have like half a day to get to Pensacola.”

“Isn’t the show at Alabama?” Phil’s brow furrowed, grabbing my suitcase and rolling it to the bus doors where the driver, Frank, took it and loaded it into the vehicle.

“We’re gonna spend the day in Pensacola with Joe’s family.” I explained, grabbing my carry-on and laptop bag. “Jon’s flying in from Vegas, then we’re all gonna ride the bus together to Mobile.”

“Sounds complicated but oh well.” Phil sighed before turning to Colby with a serious look. “Lopez, you take care of my Buttercup on the road. Don’t give her coffee after 8 p.m. or she won’t sleep. If you get something to eat make sure you get something for her too or she’ll get all grumpy. If she gets hurt in anyway, April told me to tell you to tell the other guys too, that she’d shave your beard, shave Joe’s head, and castrate Good.”

Colby grimaced at the message but nodded in understanding. “We’ll take care of her. How hard  could it be?”

“Oh boy,” Phil snorted, patting me on the head. “You just jinxed yourself Lopez.”

“Stop it.” I walked over so I could finally get on the bus, slapping Phil on the ribs lightly. “You make me sound high maintenance. Besides, I can fend for myself.”

“How many times have you called me in the middle of an all-nighter, crying because you couldn’t change the coffee filter or because your notes stopped making sense?” He retorted. “How many times have I had to come over because you forgot the keys to your apartment?”

“Okay! I get it! I’m a disaster!” I threw my hands up, stomping onto the bus. “Colby let’s go! Bye Brandon it was nice meeting you!”

Chuckles followed me, gradually fading away the further I stepped into the bus. I sent Frank a small smile which he returned with a playful salute as I passed by. I settled my carry on and laptop on my usual seat before heading for the fridge to inspect its contents.

“You got anything good in there?”

“If you count a bunch of Pepsi six packs and coconut water good then yes.” I closed the fridge, looking up at Colby and grinning at him. “You good to go?”

“Let’s hit the road!” He whooped, giving me a high five.

“Frank we’re good to go!” I hollered out to the front and received a wave in affirmation, the next thing I knew the bus lurched out of the curb and we were finally off. “So bunk buddy! Go get settled, we got a long trip ahead of us.”

“We gotta stop over for snacks too.” Colby nodded, carrying his suitcase towards his bunk. “Uh, how am I supposed to fit in here with the—”

“Put your bag in the bedroom, that’s where I put mine.”

“Will Punk be okay with that?”

“Yeah, Kofi does it too when he rides with Phil.” I waved off his worries and moved to my bottom bunk, pulling back the curtains and settling myself down.

“Dude,” Colby spoke up and I watched as he got into his own bunk, turning sideways so he could face me. “How many pillows do you have in there? It’s like a  fuckin ’ nest!”

“I like to be comfy!” I defended, throwing one of my many pillows at him which he caught deftly and placed underneath his head. “You’re not keeping that.”

“I caught it, it’s mine.” He shot back, snuggling deeper into the cushion.

I huffed, settling back down in my bunk. I let myself feel the rumble of the bus as we drove, sighing absently in the silence that filled the space.

I remember  travelling with Uncle Paul and DX when I was kid, there wasn’t a moment where it was silent. Even when sleeping, Uncle Brian snored a lot. And back when I was  travelling with the roster in 2009, Kofi and Phil’s banter filled the car when I rode with them. I wasn’t used to silence when travel—

“So,” Colby spoke. “What game do you wanna play?”

I looked over at him, meeting his wide grin with my own.

* * *

The next morning — Pensacola, Florida

“You cheated!”

“I did not!”

“You did!” Colby  hissed , nudging me slightly with his elbow as he sat back on the bed. “You’re a cheater!”

“I’m not a cheater!” I scoffed, shoving him back with my foot. “I’m just better than you!”

“That’s a lie!” He retorted, throwing the controller on the mattress and standing up, pointing down at me in outrage. “You’re a liar and a cheater!”

“You’re a sore loser! A sore loser and big whiny baby !” I mocked him with crying baby noises and gestures.

“Get back here you!” He growled, lunging at me. I squealed and rolled out of the way to avoid his grasp.

A game of cat and mouse ensued between my bunk buddy and I, well as much a chase as it could be in the confined space of the bus bedroom.

Colby and I had spent most of the ride playing video games and trash talking the other, apparently, we were both incredibly competitive when it came to video games.  Our little gauntlet had begun last night.

We’d stop  on the road bit for food and to stock up on snacks until we could get to a proper grocery store to fill the cabinets in the kitchenette. We had to cut our gaming competition short last night too when his girlfriend  facetimed him to say goodnight. But as soon as we both woke up and got caffeinated, we resumed our battle.

I did a quick tuck and roll on the bed to  get away, which was my mistake because I couldn’t get away fast enough. Next thing I knew, I was on my stomach with Colby sitting on my back . “Dude get off!”

“Not until you admit to cheating!”

“The hell I will!” I spat,  trying to claw at him only to find my wrists bound by one of his hands, and even if I  did try kicking, I couldn’t reach him in the position I was in. “I didn’t  fricking cheat!”

“Then I guess I’m staying here.” I could almost feel his smug grin as his settled his weight more  on my lower back, not enough to crush me but enough that I was uncomfortable. “This is what cheaters get Toni,  you need to be taught a lesson.”

“You’re a dick!”

“The hell is going in here?”

I gasped, looking up at the doorway of the bus bedroom to see Joe standing there, hands on his hips with a look of disbelief on his face. If I wasn’t in the  situation I was in, I would be laughing at how much he looked like Uncle Paul when he would catch me doing something I wasn’t supposed to do when I was younger.

“Joe!” Colby and I greeted together cheerfully.

Joe stared at us a bit, before turning back to look at Frank who was standing behind him the whole time. “Have they been like this the entire ride here?”

“Not the entire ride,” Frank chuckled. “But just about most of it.”

“Sorry about that man.” Joe patted his shoulder sympathetically. “You go on ahead to my house, my girl said you can rest up at our guest room until it’s time to go. I’ll handle these two kids.”

Frank thanked him profusely before leaving the three of us on the bus. Joe turned back to the scene on front of him with a smile quirking at the corner of his lips.

“You kids having fun?”

“I was until  Levesque here started to cheat.”  Colby said, bouncing a bit on my back and causing me to huff out a breath. “Now I’m teaching little miss cheats-a-lot here a lesson .”

“Joe,” I whined, causing my friend to grow more amused. “Help me get Lopez’s big ass off of me!”

“My ass is a gift!”

“Your ass is crushing me!”

“Alright that’s enough.” Joe cut our argument off, voice stern. “Colby get off Toni, she’s a lady and gentlemen  shouldn't be on top of ladies like that.”

“I don’t see no  freakin ’ lady here.” Colby muttered, but got off and let me go nonetheless. I gave him a middle finger salute only for him to repeat the gesture at me.

“As fun as it is to watch you two kids going at it,” Joe  chuckled and settled his hands on my shoulders, leading the way out of the bedroom and through the bus. “Gal, has breakfast ready for all of us and Colby and I are gonna head to the gym before lunch and picking Jon up at the airport.”

“Oh I can’t wait to see  Galina ! It’s been so long!” I gushed, grinning up at the big man. “And baby  Jojo too! ”

“Not much of a baby anymore.” Joe reminded me. “My baby’s turning 5 this year.”

How time flew by.

When I got off the bus, I found myself staring up at a quaint 2 story townhouse. Joe pushed me gently and gestured for me to go ahead while Colby grabbed his gym bag and my duffel bag and Joe would lock up the bus as Frank had left him the key. I walked down the short path in the front yard and grinned when the front door opened as soon as I stepped on the porch.

“Are my eyes  deceiving m e,”  Galina smiled as she stood in the doorway,  he daughter perched on her hip. “Or is that little  Annie that I see?”

I laughed,  closing in the last few steps between  us  and let myself be pulled into a warm welcome embrace. “ You’re the only one who call s me that Gal, I swear.”

“That’s cause I’m special.” She pulled back from the hug, bouncing  her daughter on her hip lightly. “Say hi to your Aunty Annie ,  Joelle.”

The little girl peered up at me with wide bright eyes before she turned around and buried her face in her mother’s shoulder. I laughed and waved off  Galina’s sheepish apology , not at all offended because I was the same way when I w as a kid and was being introduced to strangers.

“She’s such a big girl now.” I commented as  Galina led the way inside their home . “And she looks just like you! She’s so pretty!”

“Thank you.” Galina smiled, setting down  Jojo who immediately ran off into the living room where the television was on, the channel turned to one with a children’s program on. “Come on to the kitchen, I have breakfast ready.”

I followed her through the house and to the kitchen , the breakfast nook on the corner laden with food. “That’s a lot of food Gal.”

“Trust me, with Colby and Joe around it’s better to have more. If Jon were  here, I would’ve made much more.” She guided me to sit down at the table before heading for the coffee maker. “How do you like your coffee?”

“2 creams and 2 sugars.”  I rattled off absently, gazing around the kitchen and  sighing a bit. It was lovely. Something I would want for my own home someday.

Joe and Colby walked into the kitchen, bags in hand. Colby went to greet  Galina quickly before being waved off towards the table to get started on breakfast.

“Here,” he handed me my duffel bag before sitting down beside me. “I got your bag even if you’re a cheater because I’m such a good friend.”

“Dude!” I rolled my eyes,  grabbing a waffle for my plate. “Just let it go man!”

“No.” He pouted before  nudging my side gently with his elbow and winking , letting me know that he was  just playing around and not really upset.

“ So Annie,” Galina spoke up, handing me my coffee before sitting across from me. “How have you been? We lost contact with you but I heard you settled down in Chicago permanently.”

I winced and scratched the side of my neck sheepishly. “Yeah sorry about the whole losing contact thing. Uh, something came up,” I glanced up at her and saw the knowing look in her eyes . I was gonna get grilled later for sure. “But Chicago was great! I graduated this year and I’m settling things with WWE for work.”

“You never did tell us what you’ll be doing.” Joe piped up, grabbing Galina’s cup  of coffee and taking a sip, causing her to give him the stink eye. “Are you allowed to share the news yet?”

“I guess it wouldn’t hurt to tell you guys.”  I conceded before filling them in with the details of my job. They listened w ith rapt attention, causing my heart to warm at their genuine interest. “That’s basically it.”

“So,” Colby sat back in his seat but not before grabbing my coffee. “You’re basically our road mommy?”

“ You  know , when you say it like that it sounds really dirty.” I grimaced , watching as he drank a mouthful of  _ my _ coffee and then promptly spat it back into the cup much to everyone at the table’s disgust. “Colby ! What is wrong with you?!”

“What’s wrong with  _ me _ ?!” He spluttered, wiping at his mouth with a paper towel that  Galina handed him. “What’s wrong with  _ you _ ? Who takes their coffee that sweet?!”

“ I __ like my coffee like that ! Now you ruined a perfectly good cup.” I retorted, grabbing back my cup and frowning at him. “Get your own coffee next time you leech!”

Before Colby could reply, his phone began ringing . “Sorry guys, it’s my girl so I gotta take it.” He excused himself from the room to answer the call.

I pouted down at my coffee , looking up at  Galina with wide sad eyes. She giggled, gesturing for the cup so she could make me another one. “I got you Annie.”

“Thank you Gal!” I chirped before turning to Joe who smiled after his wife. “I love your girlfriend Joe.”

“ Yeah,” he chuckled before turning back to his breakfast. “So do I.”

* * *

Hours later found Galina and I lounging in her backyard on deck chairs. We watched  Jojo play in the inflatable pool as we adults sipped on ice cold mimosas. We chatted about life, catching up on the past few years. The boys went off to the gym and would be grabbing lunch outside before fetching Jon at the airport.

“Have you seen  _ him _ , since coming back?” Gal asked, swishing her glass around.

I sighed before sipping at my drink. Gal was one of 4 people who knew of the events of 2009. And she only knew about it because of a small incident back when I visited FCW in 2011, back before I stopped visiting development completely.

* * *

_ Flashback- 2011 _

_ “If you ever decide to finally step into a ring Antonia,” Uncle Darren or better known as William Regal patted my back, smirking when I cringed at his use of my full name. “FCW will be here waiting for you. I’m sure Hunter will be excited that the  _ _ Helmsley _ _ Legacy will continue with you.” _

_ “We’ll see Uncle Darren.” I laughed, scratching at the side of my neck as we walked through the back halls of the FCW arena. _

_ It was my annual visit to the developmental territory in Tampa, accompanying Uncle Paul as he checked on the talent and probably to scout which talent would move up to the main roster. _

_ “Darren,” We looked up and I grinned when I saw my Uncle Paul standing at end of the hallway. He offered me a quick smile before gesturing for Uncle Darren towards the office. “We got a meeting and we need you in it. Toni, go annoy someone else kid.” _

_ “Rude,” I muttered, glaring playfully at my Uncle. “Don’t make me beat an old man Hunter.” _

_ He raised an eyebrow at me before he chuckled and waved me off. Uncle Darren patted my back again before going off with my Uncle for their meeting. I found myself alone, sighing as I made my way towards the ring area of the small arena. _

_ But when I got there, I froze when I saw who exactly was hanging around the ring. _

_ Drew Mcintyre stood on the apron of the ring, chatting with one of the newly signed talents, Antonio Cesaro. He hadn’t changed one bit since last I saw him. Since December of 2009. _

_ I stood there, frozen and trembling at the sight of him. My heart was racing and my mind was in static mode. I felt myself, take a step forward. _

_ ‘Go talk to him.’ My mind said. ‘Clear the air.’ _

_ I took another step, the thought of clearing things with him pushing me forward. But before I could go through with it, he ran a hand through his hair, the lights of the arena catching the shine of the ring on his left hand. _

_ My heart dropped when I remembered exactly why I ran away from the WWE. Why I ran from our— from him that winter. _

_ With blurry eyes, I whirled around and stalked away from the ring area, making my way backstage and towards someplace I could be alone to fall apart. _

_ Unfortunately, I didn’t count on the chance that I would run into someone. I skidded back a bit when I bumped into a sturdy chest but I before I could fall on my ass, someone grabbed onto my shoulders to steady me. _

_ “Toni?” I looked up to see Joe standing in front of me, his brow furrowed in concern. His girlfriend, Galina stood beside him looking worriedly at me, their baby girl in her arms. “Are you alright?” _

_ I opened my mouth to answer but the only response I could give was a sob. I shook my head and buried my face in my hands, feeling like such a foolish little girl as I cried in front of the couple. I had gotten close to them in the 2 weeks that I had been down here in Florida, not just because of my family’s connection to Joe’s but because they were genuinely easy people to get along with. Joe was like an older and protective brother, not as intense and annoying as Phil was but more like a big teddy bear. Galina was like a sweet big sister I never knew I wanted. It didn’t hurt that their daughter was one heck of a cute kid. _

_ “Joe, take  _ _ Jojo _ _.” I heard Galina murmur before a delicate hand grabbed a hold of my arm gently. “I’ll take care of Annie.” _

_ The next thing I knew, I was being led away towards the parking lot and being ushered into Galina and Joe’s car in the backseat. _

_ “Wanna tell me about it?” Galina asked after a moment, once we both knew we wouldn’t be overheard by anyone. _

_ I broke down and told her everything. I told her about the summer of 2009 and December 2009. I told her about Drew and how I had run away. I told her what only Aunt Steph and Phil knew. I told her all of it and after she let me cry, hugging me tightly as I nursed my still broken heart. _

* * *

“Annie?”

I hummed, sipping again at my mimosa before answering her. “Yeah, I saw him a few times.”

Galina was silent, grabbing my free hand in hers and squeezing it gently. She didn’t let go as we continued our conversation. “Did you talk to him? At all?”

“I—” I recalled our encounter before Colby came along and thankfully interrupted it. “I try to avoid him as much as possible.”

“I know what he did back then was really shitty,” Galina spoke softly. “But don’t you think it’s time to clear the air?”

“And how do I begin doing that exactly?” I grumbled, setting down my glass on the table between us. “It’s not like I can walk up to him and say ‘Uh hey Drew, do you want to talk about 2009 and explain to me why you broke my heart?’.”

Before she could reply,  Jojo ran up to us and jumped into her mother’s arms. “Mommy!”

“Yeah baby?” Galina wrapped a towel around  Jojo before letting her sit on her lap.

“Mommy can we have lunch?”

Galina glanced at her phone and gasped. “Oh goodness  look at the time! I still have to make lunch!”

Jojo pouted, looking like she was about to throw a tantrum. I decided to help Galina out, especially since I was the one to take up her attention and made her lose track of time.

“Hey  Jojo , do you want to play with me while we wait for your mommy to make lunch?” I offered, giving her a friendly smile.

Jojo looked at me hesitantly before glancing up at Galina who nodded.  Jojo looked back at me and nodded, grinning at me widely. “Okay Aunty Annie!”

I let the little girl lead me inside and towards her bedroom where hopefully I could keep her occupied until lunch. Galina looked back at me and gave me a small wave before disappearing into the kitchen. Our earlier conversation, forgotten for now.

* * *

That Afternoon (Third Person POV)

Joe pushed open the front door of his house, rolling his eyes when he heard his two brothers in all but blood, scuffling behind him. They were arguing about one thing or another, he didn’t really care at this point. With Jon and Colby’s constant play fighting and what seemed to be a growing love-hate friendship between Colby and Toni, he was going to get gray hairs before he turned 30.

He heard something break in the front yard and someone cursing. Joe let out a heavy sigh through his nose, there went that flower pot he got last month. He’d have to make sure the two men replaced it.

Looking around the foyer, he noted that the living room was empty and he didn’t really hear anyone in the kitchen. “Gal?”

“Up here!”

Following the voice of the love of his life, he left the two men behind, trusting them to at least close the door behind them. He stepped onto the second floor and found Galina in the doorway of their daughter’s room, grinning at whatever was happening inside. He approached her and wrapped an arm around her waist, pausing when he saw exactly what was happening and not even fighting back the big grin that graced his face.

Because inside sat one Toni Levesque, her hair in two high pigtails. Her face though, was what took the cake. He chuckled as she glared up at him when he entered, daring him to make a comment about her eyelids which where messily painted in purple and pink and her lips which were smeared with a bright neon pink. 

“Not a word Joe.” Toni warned. “Not a word.”

Jojo , who finally noticed her dad’s presence, ran up to him and jumped into his arms, wrapping her arms around his neck in a hug. “Daddy look at Aunty Toni!”

“I see her baby girl.” Joe shifted her in his arms so she was perched on his hip. “What did you do to her?”

Sweet innocent and clueless  Jojo , tilted her head to the side. “Aunty Toni and I were playing makeover.”

“What’s going on up here?” Jon’s raspy voice came from the hallway, Galina stepped into the bedroom so he could take her place in the doorway and witness the events himself. He looked straight at Toni who still had a glare on her face before walking straight back out the room, his laughter could be heard as he made his way back downstairs.

“What’s got Jon all up in a stitch?” Colby asked, making his way beside Joe in the doorway. He greeted  Jojo with a gentle high-five before he glanced into the room, doing a double take when he spotted Toni who still sat on the floor. “ Wh —”

“Say one word,” Toni hissed at him through gritted teeth. “And I will shave your head, I swear I will.”

Instead of saying anything, Colby took his phone and snapped a quick photo of her before running out of the room, Toni hot on his heels and hell bent on hurting him.

Joe and Galina exchanged looks before bursting out into laughter.  Jojo glanced between her parents before shrugging, setting her head on her father’s shoulder and snuggling closer for a nap.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again for reading! A kudos and comment helps a lot!


	6. Some and Now None of You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a bad day and may have projected some emotions onto this chapter...

“I’m posting it on twitter.” 

“Don’t you dare Lopez!” 

Joe sighed, leaning his head back against his pillow, listening as Toni and Colby wrangled about in the bedroom. Taking a glance at the top bunk across from him, he saw Jon passed out, mouth slightly agape and softly snoring. When a loud thump sounded into the hallway, Jon snorted in his sleep, eyes fluttering before falling back close. 

Joe groaned, hopping off his bunk and heading for the bedroom. He had to get those two kids in line or they would wake up Jon and everyone would have to suffer his terrible mood if he doesn't get enough sleep. He slid open the door only to be met with a pillow to the face. 

All noise and movement stopped at that moment. Colby and Toni stood there, deer in the headlight expressions painted on their faces when they were met with Joe’s glare. The older man’s lip twitched upward in a small snarl before he stepped into the room and shut the door behind him with a click. 

“He started it!” Toni squeaked, pointing at Colby who looked aghast at being thrown under the bus. 

“You’re the one who started grappling for my phone!” He hissed, looking at Joe who continue to stare the both of them down. “Tell her off Joe! She started it!” 

“I don’t care who started it. I’m finishing it **_now_ **.” Joe growled, causing the two kids (he was going to start calling them kids if they kept at it) to shrink in on themselves. “If you two make any more noise, you’ll wake up Jon. And we don’t want that. Got it?” 

The two mutely nodded, looking down simultaneously in shame. It made Joe want to take a picture, because he would never admit it out loud but it was cute. He shook his head, sighing again out loud. “We’re nearly at the arena so I need you two to keep your noise at a minimum, understood?” 

He watched as Toni and Colby glanced at each other, smirking and then looking back at him before both saying “Yes Dad.” 

Joe just stared back at them tiredly, rolling his eyes when they snickered and shared a high-five. At this point, he might as well have been their dad with how much he’s been scolding them the whole day. And it wasn’t even 6 p.m.! He turned to leave the room, assured that at least they wouldn’t be so loud anymore. 

“Finally got them to shut up?” 

Joe startled a bit before looking into Jon’s bunk in disbelief to find that the other man was wide awake, a wide and knowing grin on his face. 

“Please don’t tell me you were awake all this time?” 

“Sorry man.” Jon’s grin grew wider, his dimples becoming more prominent. “But I’d rather let you deal with the kids. After all, you’re the only one with actual experience here.” 

“You’re a dick.”

* * *

Mobile Civic Center; Mobile Alabama- Afternoon 

By the time they arrived at the arena, the troublesome duo (as Jon had so aptly dubbed them) were all wired up and ready to go again. That is until Joe, scooped up Toni in a fireman’s carry on one shoulder, leaving their bags to be handled by the other two men. 

“Joe.” Toni huffed, craning her head enough so she could see the top of Joe’s man-bun. “Dude, put me down!”   
“If I put you down,” Joe grunted, hefting her higher on his shoulder as he stepped off the bus and onto the arena parking lot. “You and Colby are going to go at it again and I’m really not in the mood to break that up _again_.” 

“I promise I’ll be good.” She whined, but only received a disbelieving snort in return. With a pout, she let herself go lax on his shoulders, hoping that her weight would cause him to put her down. 

“That won’t work baby girl.” Joe laughed, patting the back of her thighs as he strode through the parking lot that was beginning to fill up with other staff and superstars’ vehicles. “You weigh like nothing.” 

Toni sighed, looking back to see Colby and Jon trailing after them with their bags in hand. “Colby save me!” 

Colby raised an eyebrow at her, amused at the scene happening before him. “You almost broke my phone. As far as I’m concerned, you can suffer.” 

“Jon?” She fluttered her eyelashes at the other man only to receive a shrug. 

“Nope.” 

“You’re all jerks.” She grumbled, slapping Joe’s back when she felt him rumbling from laughter underneath her. “If you drop me, I swear to god Joe.” 

“Phil and Hunter weren’t kidding when they said you were gonna be a handful.” 

“I didn’t want to believe it either.” Colby piped in. “But she’s kind of a little shit.” 

“You’re one to talk Lopez.” Jon snorted, slinging an arm around the younger man’s neck and pulling him in close for a noogie. “You’re as much a little shit as she is, and together, you’re terrible. So tonight, we’re separating you.” 

Said troublesome duo let out a pair of mock devastated gasps. “No, you can’t take away my bunk buddy!” Toni cried dramatically, hand reaching out for Colby. “Colbs!” 

“Tones!” Colby whined, allowing Jon to restrain him so they would fall back further behind the two. “They’ll never separate us Tones! I’ll come for you! Wait for me!” 

“You better find me! You have my laptop!” 

“Oh, shit you’re right.” 

Joe let out a bark of laughter as he lugged Toni into the arena. Jon finally let go of Colby so the younger man could run forward and hand over her bag to her. They all strolled into the backstage together, laughing and seemingly radiating a sense of content and happiness. It was quite the sight to see. 

The other superstars and staff who had arrived to the arena at the same time as they did, all watched the foursome in amusement. Well— almost everyone. 

Blue eyes had watched all of this go on from his place near his rental, frowning at the scene that was displayed for all those to see. He didn’t like it one bit. The gnawing feeling of jealousy rose up in him, because had it been 2009, that would have been him with her. 

That would have been him, lugging her around on his shoulder. That would have been him laughing and making her eyes seem brighter than stars. That _should_ have been him now. 

Instead all he got from her now were absent stares, hateful glares, and cold shoulders. 

He _knew_ he had fucked up with her, he would never forget that. But now he needed to make it right. Preferably **_tonight_ ** _,_ before she g ot swept away again by her duties or _worse_ _—_ her new guard dogs. 

“Drew, let’s go!” 

He looked up to see Jinder, waving at him from halfway across the parking lot. With a stiff nod, he strode over to his friend, mind made up to get Tonya alone as soon as possible. 

There were things they needed to talk about and things he needed to clear up. He was going to get her to listen to him and he would take anything she would give him. He would take every slap, every kick, and every scream. He deserved it all, and it was the least he could do after what he did to her. 

* * *

Mobile Civic Center- Backstage 

Hours later found Toni at a table in the catering area, glasses perched firmly on the bridge of her nose and frowning down at the papers in front of her. As much as she had wanted to watch the show, heckling and cheering as part of the crowd, there were things that needed her attention more. 

One of the runners had given her a copy of the S.H.I.E.L.D’s schedule for live events along with a message from her Uncle Paul, reminding her that she would stick by the three men while on the road. 

She had no qualms about staying with her friends, but as she reviewed the schedules again, she realized 2 things she wasn’t exactly happy about but had no choice in whatsoever. 

First, most of the house shows she would be present at wouldn’t have April there. She would be at the other house shows in another city. 

_Well,_ Toni thought defeatedly, _there went the anime binge watching sleepovers we planned._

Maybe she could get one of the guys to watch with her instead. 

Second, almost— if not all, the house shows she would be at, Drew would be there too. It seemed that the universe did everything it could to screw over her plans of avoiding the man as much as possible. 

Toni bit the inside of her lip, staring off into space as she immersed herself into her thoughts. 

It’s not that she didn’t _want_ to clear the air with Drew, it’s just that she didn’t think she _could_ so soon after coming back. Because she didn’t know how she would react to hearing the truth coming from the man himself. It was different hearing it from someone else, but to hear it from the source itself was a whole other thing. 

And yeah, she had four years to get over it, but that mostly involved burying herself in school work and completing two degrees at the same time. So, she never really gave herself the chance to dredge up those memories and information she had so quickly and desperately suppressed (which was probably unhealthy but no one ever said Toni had good coping mechanisms). 

But now that she was back, the universe was pushing her to confront what she put off for so long. 

But, how could she? 

How could she go on about talking to him when every time he was near, she was back to December of 2009 with her dream of a fairytale first love shattering in pieces all around her? How could she when she herself knew she wasn’t fully over the man? When the lingering vestiges of attraction threatened to bounce back? When the memories of whispered sweetness and secret kisses still flittered through her mindscape? 

Toni closed her eyes and sighed despondently, feeling so much tired than she had been in the past few weeks. She sniffled a bit, wishing her Aunt Steph was there to hug her and offer advice. She wished April were there to listen and get her mind off of things by offering to trounce her in video games. Hell, she would even take Phil being a jerk to her over feeling like this. 

_Speaking of the devils,_ Toni glanced at her phone when she saw it light up with a Twitter notification and text messages from Phil and April. 

Happy for the distraction (anything to get her mind off of Drew Galloway), she picked up her phone and clicked the text messages first. 

**Geek Sis: Know that Colby sent it to me and I had to share it with Phil.**

**Punk Bro: Before you chew me out, Colby sent it to Ap and she sent it to me.**

Confusion rose up in her until she clicked on the Twitter notification next. Any sort of emotion she felt previously was replaced with ire when she saw exactly what the tweet Phil tagged her in was. 

**CM Punk tweeted: @THHelms She’s beauty, she’s grace, she’ll kick me in the face but this is my new phone background.**

Inserted in the tweet was the photo Colby had taken earlier this afternoon of Jojo’s makeover on her. Toni glared at her screen, seeing all the retweets and likes made her want to bang her head on a concrete wall. She took a deep and calming breath before tweeting out her reply. 

**Hela Helmsley replied: @CMPunk You’re dead to me**

**CM Punk replied: @THHelms lol**

_Ding!_ Another notification popped up on her phone but to her trepidation it was from her Uncle Paul and sure enough, the same photo was in the tweet except this time there was a second photo. 

To her mortification, beside the photo Colby took was an old photo of her from when she was a toddler, and in that photo was her face in horrible makeup, almost an exact replica of its future version, except the eyeshadow was all blue and glitter. 

**Triple H tweeted: Some things never change @THHelms**

**Hela Helmsley replied: @TripleH Wow old man. Betrayal.**

**Triple H replied: @THHelms keep calling me old man I have hundreds of baby photos to share with the world.**

**Hela Helmsley replied: @TripleH I am suddenly shutting up.**

**Stephanie McMahon replied: @TripleH @THHelms Cute! New phone background!**

**Hela Helmsley replied: @StephMcMahon @TripleH This family is a nightmare!**

_I’m going to kill Colby,_ Toni’s hands clenched around her phone, _as soon as they finish their matches, I’m killing him._

Pushing back her chair, she caught the eye of one of the catering staff and pointed to her things. “Please look out for my stuff, I’ll be back for them.” 

After receiving a nod in confirmation, she stalked out of the catering area on a mission. She was intent on ambushing her bunk buddy as soon as he passed the curtains. She would make him pay. How exactly he would pay, she didn’t know yet, but she would figure it out as she went. 

She was nearing the gorilla when a hand suddenly shot out from out of nowhere and dragged her into a room. The room just happened to be the men’s locker room, and the person who dragged her into it just so happened to be the last person she wanted to see at the moment. But you know those moments in life where you’re just like “This might as well happen?”, this was one of those. 

“Drew.” 

“Tonya.” Drew greeted, shutting the door behind him and leaning back against it. There was no running away for her now, he was making sure of that. “I think it’s time we had that talk properly; don’t you think?” 

* * *

There was a time when all Toni wanted was to be alone in a room with the very man who stood before her. She was young, naïve, and entirely in love with the prospect of having a romance like her Aunt and Uncle. She never actually thought it would happen. Theirs was a once in a lifetime love. 

That was until 2009 and life introduced her to Drew McIntyre. 

He was young, handsome, and a real gentleman. He had the dreamiest blue eyes and an electric air about him that pulled her in and kept her in his orbit. He was a whirlwind that swept her off her feet and flew her to great and dangerous heights. 

They had hit it off almost immediately, and Toni knew that if she could fall in love with anyone then it would be with him. She had pursued the idea of a relationship with him, and it was all the more exciting when they decided to keep it from everyone else. A secret romance, in the eyes of her 19-year-old self was the most romantic thing of all. 

For Drew, he found himself flattered to have garnered the attention and affection of such a bright young woman. He never intended it to go as far as it did, he never intended for her to fall in love with him and he never expected to actually feel the same way about her, until it was too late to go back. But instead of cutting off any relations he had with her, he decided to hold on tighter. 

He treated her preciously. He treated her like she was his, when he knew deep down, he would never be able to actually keep her. 

Four years later, here they were. Alone in a room and all the illusions Toni had of a perfect romance had long been shattered, and any hope Drew had of her ever truly being his, was so far out of reach. 

“You wanted to talk,” Toni crossed her arms over her chest, swallowing hard and hating how her heart pounded so painfully loud in her ribcage. “So, talk.” 

Drew stared at her, wondering if he should come closer but seeing how closed off her body language was, he decided against it. 

“I’m sorry.” He spoke gently, watching her face and internally wondering at how beautiful she had become since he last saw her. Sure, he’d seen her since she got back but he never really had the time to truly admire how she had grown up. “For whatever I did back then, I’m sorry.” 

“For whatever you did?” Toni spluttered out, feeling the outrage building in her. “Don’t you know what you did?!” 

“I know I—” 

“When we were together,” Toni cut off angrily, uncrossing her arms and keeping them tightly by her sides. “Were you or were you not engaged to that _beautiful_ woman?” 

Drew paled, his lip trembling as he answered with a shuddering breath, “Yes, I was.” 

Toni was right, the truth hit different when it came from his own mouth. 

She was so angry at him yet her heart felt like it was breaking all over again. She felt like she was 19 again, watching as his then fiancé jumped into his arms as soon as he made it backstage after winning the Intercontinental Championship. 

Her eyes watered as she stared up at him, her throat tightening at the overwhelming emotions that were fraying the edges of her control. “And did you tell me about it?” 

Drew ran a hand through his hair, pulling it out of the low ponytail he had it in and causing it to become disheveled. “No, I didn’t.” 

His last words seemed to hammer the final nail in the coffin. All of the anger she felt towards him and what he had done, spiraled down the drain and now all that was left was a hollow ache in her chest. 

“Did you really think,” She said brokenly, absently noting the tears that had fallen from her eyes and onto her cheeks. “That I would _ever_ be able to forgive you for that?” 

He walked towards her, taking a hold of her wrist which she shook off harshly, only to have it recaptured in a firmer grip once more. “I loved you Tonya, you have to believe that. I really did love you.” 

“It doesn’t matter if you loved me!” Toni cried out, her breath hitching as she tried to hold back the sobs that so desperately wanted to claw themselves out of her lips. “You lied to me and you broke my heart! You were my first love and you broke my heart!” 

Drew stood there, reaching up and cupping her face in his shaking hands, leaning down to press his forehead against hers. “I’m so sorry little one.” He whispered, eyes glistening. “I never wanted to hurt you like this.” 

Toni closed her eyes and let herself cry. Right there in the arms of the man who had taken her heart and crushed it in his palm, she sobbed and let him know how much he had hurt her. 

Her hands gripped onto his wrists, digging her nails into his flesh and yet he didn’t flinch. He would take anything she was going to give him in that moment, he had promised himself that earlier. 

“The worst thing in all of this is,” She whispered. “You didn’t cheat on _me._ You cheated on her _with_ me. You made me the other woman. Do you know how humiliating that is?” 

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” Drew chanted, because really what else could he say to fix all of this? There was never any way he could go back and right his wrongs. This was the result of his younger self’s selfishness. 

Toni didn’t know how long they stood there, didn’t know how long she let him stay so close to her. These were the remnants of their shattered fairytale. 

There was a knock at the door and a production assistant calling out to Drew, telling him that his match would be on in about 10 minutes. “I’ll be right out.” He called out hoarsely before turning back to her. 

He stared down at her, sighing sadly at the dullness of her doe eyes. He pressed a brief kiss to the top of her head, relishing slightly in the fact that she let him. But he didn’t take it as hope for anything between them, he knew that when he walked out of the door, that she would finally be done with him. Drew took the small chance, leaning down and pressing a kiss to his (only for now but never again) Tonya’s lips. 

Toni didn’t push him away, but she didn’t respond either. As far as she was concerned, this was nothing but goodbye. The end of running away from 2009 and the end of them as a whole. 

When he finally lifted his mouth from hers, she pulled away, turned her back to him, and moved to sit down on one of the benches inside of the locker room. She listened as he walked away, opening the door and seemingly hesitating before finally closing the door behind him. 

When the click of the door being shut faded into nothingness and there Toni sat in silence amongst the wreckage of her heart. The tears that had ceased earlier started to fall down once more, her body trembling as she pressed her hand to her lips. 

Because for a moment back there, for the tiniest moment she thought that maybe she could fall in love with him again. Maybe if she tried, everything that’s happened between them wouldn’t matter if she let herself love him again. 

_But they did,_ Toni reminded herself. _They would always matter._

Never again would Toni allow herself to be fooled by him or anyone. Never would she let her heart be broken like that again. She wasn’t that foolish little girl anymore. She knew better now. 

* * *

Toni sat there in the locker room for a while. It probably wasn’t for long but it felt like an eternity. She felt drained, and her tears had finally stopped. After some time, the door to the locker room opened again. 

“Kiddo?” 

She whirled around and saw Jon standing in the doorway, looking between her and the label on the door again and again as if it would somehow give him the answers as to what she was doing in there. But when he turned back to look at her properly, he grew suspicious and a bit angry when he saw tear tracks on her slightly puffy cheeks. 

“Jon.” She croaked out, hastily wiping away any evidence of her crying. “Your match is over?” 

Ignoring the question, he came over to stand before her, tilting her head up to inspect her face properly for anything out of place or any sign that anyone had physically hurt her. “What happened kid? Did someone hurt you?” 

“No, no one hurt me.” She sighed, pushing his hand away. “I’m fine.” 

“You don’t look fine to me.” Jon’s jaw clenched, punching his fist into his palm. “Say the word kiddo and I’ll beat up whoever hurt you.” 

“Just—I just—” Toni's voice wavered as tears started to slip out of her eyes once more. It seemed that no matter how much she tried to stop it, the tears just kept coming back. 

Jon felt the panic well up in him. He wasn’t good with crying, be it with kids, men, or women. He wasn’t good at comforting either. He patted the top of her head awkwardly, grimacing when Toni let out another choked sob. 

“There, there kiddo. It’s gonna be okay.” 

“Jon? What’s going on?” 

The rush of relief that swept through Jon was unbelievable when Colby appeared in the doorway. The younger man’s eyes darted between his stablemate and his bunk buddy, wondering what the hell exactly was going on. “Toni? What are you doing here? 

Jon gestured for him to enter quickly and take over his spot. Colby nodded, switching places with Jon so he could be much closer to Toni. “What’s the matter sweetheart? What’s wrong?” 

Toni shook her head, leaning her head against Colby’s stomach and letting herself cry because she just couldn’t stop. Everything had come rushing up to her and it seemed that the suppression she did in the last few years had finally been released in a flood. 

Colby sighed, and despite how tired he actually was from his match, he let his friend lean on him and cry. Because that’s what good friends did, and Toni was a good kid. The shower he was supposed to take could wait just a bit longer. He just hoped Toni didn’t mind reeking of his sweat after this. 

“It’s okay sweetheart.” Colby murmured, rubbing a gloved hand up and down her back as her sobs finally eased. “Is this about the photo? I’m sorry if it was.” 

Toni let out a watery giggle, shaking her head before looking up at him with a small smile. 

_Finally_ , Colby thought, _Smiling suits her better._

“It’s not about the photo.” She said, leaning back slightly to look up at his face, her smile growing bigger. “But rest assured, I will get back at you for that.” 

Colby laughed, ruffling her hair lightly before stepping back so she could stand up. “Whatever you say Tones.” He smiled softly at her, glad that she looked like she was somewhat feeling better. He tugged at her hand and pulled her in for a hug, taking note of the way she slumped into him and saving that information for future comforting purposes. “If it helps you feel better, I’ll let you punch me right now and— oof.” He grunted when a swift punch was delivered to his stomach. 

“I feel a bit better now.” Toni giggled, shaking her fist as she backed away from him. She watched as he leaned on his knees, wheezing and glaring up at her. “Hey, you offered!” 

“You little shit.” Colby growled, darting forward to grab at her only to grapple with air when she ran past him and out of the room. “Come back here and let me hurt you Toni!” 

Joe, who was had just arrived to the locker room, watched as Colby chased down Toni in the hallway, debating with himself whether to stop them or not. They were liable to get hurt with how fast they were running and he should really— A loud crash and twin yells of “It was her/his fault!” echoed back to him. 

“Yeah,” He snorted, walking into the locker room and heading for the showers. “Not dealing with that right now.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave a comment! It helps us authors out a lot! Thank you for reading!


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